“Thanks for all the interest in Bernie’s mittens!” Jen Ellis wrote on Twitter. “I’m so flattered that Bernie wore them until the inauguration. Unfortunately I don’t have mitts for sale anymore.
A few years ago, Ellis, who teaches second grade, gave the Vermont senator the patterned, hand-knitted “smittens” – part mittens, part sweater – on the campaign trail. But she didn’t expect him to wear them at high-profile events like the inauguration. The mittens are made from recycled wool sweaters and lined with fleece made from recycled plastic bottles, she said in a tweet last year.
The image is also sold on T-shirts, mugs and as a $ 25 bobble cup. Some sellers on Etsy already sell “Bernie inspired” mittens. Last year, online sellers on the fly cashed in on former Vice President Mike Pence during the debate against Kamala Harris. The Biden campaign sold over 35,000 fly swatters with the slogan “truth about flies,” a play on the campaign slogan “truth about lies.”
Ellis could not be reached for comment, however She told the Jewish Insider that “I can’t possibly make 6,000 pairs of mittens, and every time I get in my email, a few hundred more people have emailed me.”
“I hate to disappoint people, but the mitts are unique and unique, and sometimes you just can’t get everything you want in this world,” she told the news site.
The virality and levity of the Bernie meme is reminiscent of more carefree days on the Internet. As a Twitter user conquered it, “Bernie Sanders’ memes and photoshops are what the world needs now.”
This isn’t the first time the mittens have been in the spotlight either. Last year, Sanders carried them to the Women’s March in Portsmouth, New Hampshire; some called the mittens “oversized mittens” and a special Twitter account, @BerniesWanten, was born. Ellis said at the time that she was “humbled by the support” and “what started as a simple act of kindness over 2 years ago has grown into something beyond my imagination”.
She added, “This mitt’s madness really distracts me from finishing my six-monthly reports.”
In a statement to CNN On Thursday, Sanders said the meme this week “raises awareness that we make good mittens in Vermont. … We have some good coats too.”