--- title: Game of Thrones Costumes Come From Ikea description: It’s more than a little surprising this 'Game of Thrones' prop is a seriously affordable buy from Ikea canonical: https://time.com/4891327/game-of-thrones-costume-ikea/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-08T14:49:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:25.579Z og:title: The 'Game of Thrones' Prop You Never Knew Came From Ikea og:description: Costume designer Michele Clapton called it a "bit of a trick" og:url: https://time.com/4891327/game-of-thrones-costume-ikea/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fba0c54ad3a2a9c/6988549455a859bb48a8c817/gameofthrones15_172.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: gameofthrones15_172 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The 'Game of Thrones' Prop You Never Knew Came From Ikea twitter:description: Costume designer Michele Clapton called it a "bit of a trick" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fba0c54ad3a2a9c/6988549455a859bb48a8c817/gameofthrones15_172.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Turns Out the _Game of Thrones_ Characters Use Ikea Stuff to Keep Warm Just Like You by [Mackenzie Schmidt / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Mackenzie Schmidt / People Aug 8, 2017 2:49 PM UTC  Kit Harington as Jon Snow in Game of Thrones Kit Harington as Jon Snow in Game of ThronesHelen Sloan—HBO by [Mackenzie Schmidt / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Mackenzie Schmidt / People Aug 8, 2017 2:49 PM UTC [_Game of Thrones_](http://people.com/tag/game-of-thrones/) is known for its epic battles, over-the-top settings, terrifying CGI pets — and for having the budget to make it all look amazing. So it’s more than a little surprising that one consistent element in the HBO epic is a seriously affordable buy. During a speaking engagement about Medieval dress at Los Angeles’s Getty Museum in 2016, costume designer Michele Clapton revealed that the furs donned by many members of the Night’s Watch started out as shearling rugs from your favorite big blue box store. **_People.com:_**[_How to Go on a_ ](http://people.com/home/game-of-thrones-filming-locations-croatia-travel-guide-cheap/)[Game of Thrones ](http://people.com/home/game-of-thrones-filming-locations-croatia-travel-guide-cheap/)[_Vacation for Less Than $100_](http://people.com/home/game-of-thrones-filming-locations-croatia-travel-guide-cheap/) “These capes are actually IKEA rugs,” she says with a laugh. “Bit of a trick. We take anything we can.” She goes on to detail the process (around 27:30 in the video above): “We cut and we shaved them and added strong leather straps, and then breakdown, which is like a religion on _Game of_ _Thrones_,” she says. _“_I want the audience to almost smell the costumes. Here they were waxed and frosted so they belonged to the landscape.” In this case, it was the freezing North and the unforgiving lands beyond the Wall. IKEA’s [RENS](http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70026822/), which retails for $29.95, is one of the store’s perennial favorites, but if we had to guess, it’s the [TEJN](http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30229077/) ($14.99), which has a longer pile and messier texture, that keeps the Night’s Watch as warm as can be expected when you spend your days patrolling a 700-foot ice wall.  IKEA **_People.com:_**[_Forget the King’s Road, these_ ](http://people.com/home/forget-the-kings-road-these-game-of-thrones-tours-take-you-to-dragonstone-highgarden-and-more-season-7-spots/)[Game of Thrones](http://people.com/home/forget-the-kings-road-these-game-of-thrones-tours-take-you-to-dragonstone-highgarden-and-more-season-7-spots/)[ ](http://people.com/home/forget-the-kings-road-these-game-of-thrones-tours-take-you-to-dragonstone-highgarden-and-more-season-7-spots/)[_Tours Take You to Dragonstone, Highgarden and More Season 7 Spots_](http://people.com/home/forget-the-kings-road-these-game-of-thrones-tours-take-you-to-dragonstone-highgarden-and-more-season-7-spots/) Aside from their rugged outerwear, Clapton, who worked on the show’s first five seasons, took every detail into consideration when dressing the soldiers who guard the realms of men, even down to how they get their black outfits black. “We loved the idea of a huge cauldron in the Castle Black courtyard with donated clothes being tossed in,” she explains. “And as the dye runs thin before more pigment is added, it will naturally create a variation in shade.” It’s a practical solution for the underfunded venture. “It makes it more real and we understand the process,” says Clapton. With many of the show’s main characters likely heading toward the wall in the current seventh season, it may be time for IKEA Mole’s Town to open shop. _This_ [_article_](http://people.com/home/game-of-thrones-costume-designer-uses-ikea-rugs-as-capes/) _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://people.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4891327/game-of-thrones-costume-ikea/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4891327/game-of-thrones-costume-ikea/"},"headline":"Turns Out the Game of Thrones Characters Use Ikea Stuff to Keep Warm Just Like You","datePublished":"2017-08-08T14:49:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:25.579Z","description":"Costume designer Michele Clapton called it a \"bit of a trick\"","url":"https://time.com/4891327/game-of-thrones-costume-ikea/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fba0c54ad3a2a9c/6988549455a859bb48a8c817/gameofthrones15_172.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mackenzie Schmidt / People"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fba0c54ad3a2a9c/6988549455a859bb48a8c817/gameofthrones15_172.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"gameofthrones15_172","caption":"Kit Harington as Jon Snow in Game of Thrones","creditText":"Helen Sloan—HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4891327/game-of-thrones-costume-ikea/","name":"Turns Out the Game of Thrones Characters Use Ikea Stuff to Keep Warm Just Like You"}}]}] ```