Friitala Leather Museum

The Friitala Leather Museum is a special leather industry museum maintained by the City of Ulvila. It’s located in the Friitala building, the former Friitala leather factory. The Leather Museum is a member of the European Route of Industrial Heritage and one of the locations on the Finnish Route of Industrial Heritage. 

Permanent exhibition “FRIITALAN AIKA” 

The permanent exhibition of the Friitala Leather Museum presents the stories of the leather industry giant, a pioneer of leather manufacturing and leather fashion, and the factory community built around the leather factory over more than a century of history. 

Visitors can learn about the history of the leather factory by looking at the texts on the walls and the tablets placed in the exhibition space. The exhibition features leather clothing, objects related to production and the life of the factory community, as well as a scale model of the factory building that portrays the factory in the late 1960s. 

Special exhibitions 

The special exhibition “SHOE LEATHER, LEATHER SHOES” presents the history of shoe leather production at the Friitala Leather Factory. At the same time, the exhibition explores the story of the shoe industry in Kankaanpää and how Kankaanpää once became one of the centres of Finland’s shoe industry. The exhibition will be on view from 1 April 2026 to 28 February 2027.