The Night’s Watch, true to their backstory as a borderline forgotten and perpetually underfunded Westerosi institution, are actually literally running around wearing beat-to-shit Ikea rugs.
That perfect detail comes via Quartz. Costumer Michele Clapton revealed the fact in a talk at the Getty last year, laughing as she admitted that “We take anything we can!”
“We cut and we shaved them, and then we added strong leather straps and then breakdown, which is like a religion on Game of Thrones.” (Breakdown being the process of aging costumes and gear to make them look properly lived-in.) Finally they were waxed and frosted, “so that they belonged to the landscape.” It’s totally fitting sourcing for a group that, as Clapton explained, she imagined taking cast-off clothing and tossing them into a big cauldron of black dye to create uniforms—such as they are. Lest this fact give you too much of an impression of a summer camp theatrical production, Broadly also recently visited the prop maker RS Windlass & Sons in India, which produces costumes for the show. “All the intricate handwork is done by women,” said a merchandise manager. But it costs money to torch an entire squadron of Lannisters and you save wherever you can, right?
It’s unclear which rugs they used; “The Tjen? The Alhede? The Höjerup? Or the real sheepskin Rens?” Quartz asks. Clapton doesn’t specify but you can watch the full talk here.