Published • Inter IKEA newsroom
IKEA launches the caring VÅRDANDE collection
The new VÅRDANDE collection is inspired by the fundamentals of wellbeing. The collection is a partnership with five Asian social businesses, creating a better everyday life through long-term job opportunities and livelihoods for vulnerable groups.
The word VÅRDANDE means caring in Swedish. True to its meaning, the collection includes textile products such as a kimono, yoga mats and blankets, a carrying basket, a soft storage solution, bowls and plant pots. A large part of the range is handmade, or made in a sustainable industrial set up by the social businesses that IKEA collaborates with.
Most materials are sourced locally, like banana fibres, clay and jute, close to where our social business partners are located. Cotton products are made from cotton from More Sustainable Sources\*. This means that the cotton we use, compared to conventional farming, is grown with less water, chemical fertilisers and pesticides while increasing profit margins for the farmers. The material is sourced in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, and India, where our partnering social businesses are located.
VÅRDANDE is a result of the ambition to create job and economic opportunities for those who need them the most. By collaborating with local social businesses, which employ people who have difficulty finding a job in the labour market, everyday life can be improved for many people. And as a result of the collaboration, people are offered handcrafted products in IKEA’s stores worldwide.
“With VÅRDANDE, we want to offer the many people a chance to relax and find inner strength. It contains a range of products to help create small changes with significant impacts – both for themselves and those who made them. The collection is created in partnership with the social business Classical (Bangladesh), Ramesh Flowers, Doi Tung (Thailand), Spun (India), and SAITEX (Vietnam) – five businesses committed to building long-term opportunities for marginalised groups and vulnerable areas,” says Lena Sörmon, Business Leader IKEA Social Entrepreneurship.
VÅRDANDE is designed by the IKEA designers Akanksha Deo and Sarah Fager. VÅRDANDE will be available in most IKEA markets in August 2022.
\*From September 1, 2015, all cotton in IKEA products comes from more sustainable sources (CMSS). CMSS includes the following schemes: Better Cotton (as defined by BCI, including their equivalence in various geographies), cotton from farmers working towards the BCI standard (TBC) and e3.