Collaboration: Swedish giant IKEA teams up with WSL to “engage the surf community!”

The more than "370 million people around the world interested in surfing" rejoice!

Oooooee it will be impossible for many, many months to top Derek Rielly’s fine work yesterday and of course you didn’t miss it. Of course you saw his innocent face splashed across newspapers from Australia to England to New York City. His innocent face just signing some books underneath bold headlines declaring:

Instagram model, 24, reveals why she was so offended by middle-aged author’s ‘disgusting’ threesome question.

Yes, it will be impossible for many, many months. Years even but thankfully there is always our World Surf League and just today it was announced that the governing body of professional surfing is teaming up with Swedish modular furniture manufacturer IKEA in order to “engage the surf community” on “what it takes in areas such as organisation, mobility and humidity when you are constantly on the go.”

And the press release is so full of artfully crafted phrases that I must post here. Do you mind? Of course you don’t. This is BeachGrit where “swinging throuples” are a way of life!

In a new collaboration with World Surf League (WSL), IKEA is diving into life around the water, connecting sustainability with an active life and mobile living. With around 70% of its surface covered by oceans, Earth is rightly known as the blue planet. The ocean is also a major producer of the oxygen we breathe, making it a crucial part of our everyday life regardless of where we live.

IKEA is teaming up with WSL to better understand the everyday life of people that have a mobile and active way of living in close rhythm with the ocean. There are 370 million people across the world interested in surfing and more than 40 million active surfers. No sport relies on the ocean as much as surfing, which is why sustainability and protecting the ocean are naturally important to surfers.

Through this partnership, IKEA and WSL will team up for a project to raise awareness about the climate challenge and inspire action to reduce plastic pollution in the oceans. IKEA and WSL will also collaborate on a jointly designed surf-centric range of products, using recovered ocean-bound plastic where possible.

“At IKEA we’re excited to start a collaboration with the World Surf League and engage with the surf community on life around water. We’re curious to learn what it takes in areas such as organisation, mobility and humidity when you are constantly on the go. And we both share the ambition and passion around sustainability, so we want to keep the wellbeing of our ocean at the heart of it all,” says James Futcher, Creative Leader at IKEA of Sweden.

“We are very excited to collaborate with IKEA and look forward to working together on a product collaboration around surfing that is using ocean-bound plastic,” said WSL CEO Sophie Goldschmidt. “IKEA’s sustainability initiatives really align with our own and we’re both dedicated to protecting the ocean.”

IKEA wants to have a positive impact on the ocean, engage in projects to clean plastic pollutants from the ocean and proactively prevent ocean plastic pollution. Therefore, this collaboration also has the ambition to connect to the other ongoing initiatives on ocean bound plastic and ocean plastic that IKEA is currently working with, to get a holistic approach towards life in and around the oceans.

A few things that stand out to me. 370 million people across the world interested in surfing and more than 40 million active surfers? Yeah? Ok.

Also, “IKEA and WSL will also collaborate on a jointly designed surf-centric range of products, using recovered ocean-bound plastic where possible.” When these products come available will you prefer the plastic sheet set featuring Julian Wilson or the one featuring Gabriel Medina?

And, “We’re curious to learn what it takes in areas such as organisation, mobility and humidity when you are constantly on the go.” Do you know what it takes?

Care sharing?