The Bernie Sanders mitten saga continues in the form of … more mittens. For those who have been living under a rock, Senator Sanders wore a brown and white pair of mittens on Inauguration Day. Not so surprisingly, because this is the internet after all, everyone was in love and started making meme after meme of him in his mittens. It wasn’t too long before attention was drawn to Jen Ellis, the mind behind the mittens.
Ellis, a second-grade teacher from Vermont, gave Sanders the mittens a couple years ago during a campaign stop. She didn’t expect her mittens to blow up. “I did one thing years ago and forgot about it, and it has come back around in the most joyful way,” Ellis told CNN during an interview. She also didn’t expect for everyone under the sun to want a pair of the recycled mittens.
That’s where Vermont Teddy Bear comes in. The Shelburne teddy bear business has partnered with Ellis to bring the mittens to the masses. Thankfully she’s not going to be knitting or sewing them herself. That’s too big of a job for anyone, but she’s taught the company designers how to replicate her patterns and is thrilled that this is what she will be remembered for.
To make things better, an undisclosed portion of the proceeds made from the mittens will benefit Make-A-Wish Vermont. The nonprofit organization helps fulfill the wishes of children with critical illnesses and has over 50 chapters in the United States of America. It also operates in nearly 50 other countries around the world through international affiliates.
The production of these mittens follows the news that Sanders and his team have raised nearly $2 million dollars for Meals on Wheels Vermont. They rode the meme train and put Sanders on sweatshirts and tees that fans snatched up in no time. And while they’re sold out right now, I’m hoping that a new line of Sanders merch pops up when the mittens finally arrive. After all, what would look more fashionable with your own Bernie Sanders mittens than a Sanders sweatshirt?
(image: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
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