--- title: Billionaire Ikea Founder Prefers Buying Second-Hand Clothes description: Billionaire Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad stocks his wardrobe with second-hand clothes. He says penny-pinching helped Ikea's success. canonical: https://time.com/4253546/ingvar-kamprad-ikea-billionaire-frugal-clothes/ author: Mark Rivett-Carnac article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-10T04:21:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:30:51.287Z og:title: Billionaire Ikea Founder Wears Second-Hand Clothes og:description: Ingvar Kamprad, worth more than $40 billion, says he shops at flea markets og:url: https://time.com/4253546/ingvar-kamprad-ikea-billionaire-frugal-clothes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0849f29e5e8ecd38/69888a6bcf40a81517c4258a/rtxoevz.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Swede Ingvar Kamprad, founder of furniture retail chain IKEA, announces a donation of 500'000 Swiss .. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Billionaire Ikea Founder Wears Second-Hand Clothes twitter:description: Ingvar Kamprad, worth more than $40 billion, says he shops at flea markets twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0849f29e5e8ecd38/69888a6bcf40a81517c4258a/rtxoevz.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Billionaire Who Founded Ikea Is So Frugal He Only Wears Second-Hand Clothes by [Mark Rivett-Carnac](https://time.com/author/mark-rivett-carnac/) ## Mark Rivett-Carnac Mar 10, 2016 4:21 AM UTC  Swede Ingvar Kamprad, founder of furniture retail chain IKEA, announces a donation to Lausanne's Cantonal School of Art during a news conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, March 20, 2006 Swede Ingvar Kamprad, founder of furniture retail chain IKEA, announces a donation to Lausanne's Cantonal School of Art during a news conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, March 20, 2006STR New/Reuters by [Mark Rivett-Carnac](https://time.com/author/mark-rivett-carnac/) ## Mark Rivett-Carnac Mar 10, 2016 4:21 AM UTC Extreme [frugality](http://www.afp.com/en/news/ikeas-billionaire-founder-frugal-fan-flea-markets) is the secret to untold wealth, if the habits of billionaire Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad are anything to go by. The mogul is so thrifty, he stocks his wardrobe with second-hand clothes. “I don’t think I’m wearing anything that wasn’t bought at a flea market,” Kamprad says in an upcoming documentary for Swedish television, according to Agence France-Presse. He also prefers cheap haircuts, explaining in a 2008 interview with Swedish newspaper _Sydsvenskan_:“Normally, I try to get my haircut when I’m in a developing country. Last time it was in Vietnam.” Kamprad, who turns 90 on March 30, said penny-pinching helped Ikea’s success. It probably also helped him amass a fortune worth more than $40 billion, according to a [Bloomberg](http://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profile/ingvar-kamprad) estimate. \[[_AFP_](http://www.afp.com/en/news/ikeas-billionaire-founder-frugal-fan-flea-markets)\] Billionaire Ikea Founder Prefers Buying Second-Hand Clothes ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4253546/ingvar-kamprad-ikea-billionaire-frugal-clothes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4253546/ingvar-kamprad-ikea-billionaire-frugal-clothes/"},"headline":"The Billionaire Who Founded Ikea Is So Frugal He Only Wears Second-Hand Clothes","datePublished":"2016-03-10T04:21:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:30:51.287Z","description":"Ingvar Kamprad is worth more than $40 billion","url":"https://time.com/4253546/ingvar-kamprad-ikea-billionaire-frugal-clothes/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Business topic","Ikea","Billionaire","Clothes"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0849f29e5e8ecd38/69888a6bcf40a81517c4258a/rtxoevz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mark Rivett-Carnac","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/mark-rivett-carnac/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0849f29e5e8ecd38/69888a6bcf40a81517c4258a/rtxoevz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Swede Ingvar Kamprad, founder of furniture retail chain IKEA, announces a donation of 500'000 Swiss ..","caption":"Swede Ingvar Kamprad, founder of furniture retail chain IKEA, announces a donation of 500'000 Swiss ..","creditText":"STR New/Reuters","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/4253546/ingvar-kamprad-ikea-billionaire-frugal-clothes/","name":"The Billionaire Who Founded Ikea Is So Frugal He Only Wears Second-Hand Clothes"}}]}] ```