Ikea Now Does Handmade?

By Chrisjob

Ikea is offering hand crocheted cushions under its Sommar line, for $7.99.

Wait, what? A 10" hand crocheted cushion for eight dollars? Really? I'm no crochet-master, but Ikea can afford yarn, labor, and shipping for eight dollars? I know one could use a loom, but those must be some lighting-fast Swedish crochet masters with no regard for minimum wage.

Can this be true?

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April 16, 2008

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ruajennie

April 21, 2008

I saw these when I went there last weekend and they were about the size of a thick seat cushion. I'm still amazed how they can be so low on prices. Also (totally unrelated but equally cool--to me), I found a great funky-looking laptop bag for $10 (everything else I had been looking at online or in other stores were at least $70 for about the same amount of quality). Well made, to boot. I love that place!

ModHomeEcTeacher

April 18, 2008

You can't even buy stuffing for a floor pillow for this price.

malleron

April 16, 2008

Also, see this article, too: http://www.sustainableindustries.com/sijnews/3290956.html

Ikea seems to have quite a history of being good to people and the environment as well as the pocketbook. They just don't talk about it, which I think is a big mistake these days. The market for willful misunderstanding is infinite.

malleron

April 16, 2008

Yeah, it does sound hard to believe. Either Ikea is paying less than a penny for sweatshop child labor or they're not truly "handmade", right?

Well, even though I'm no longer so crazy about the Ikea aesthetic, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now, mainly because of this article: http://www.furniturestoreblog.com/2007/05/20/ikea_pillows_helping_women_and_children_in_india_1.html.

Basically, this may be another step in the fair trade direction, only without the publicity. Unfortunately, Ikea doesn't say where these things are manufactured on their site. But then, too, Ikea's not exactly famous for their transparency, even when they do the right things.