Teacher behind Sanders' mittens joins hands with firm to make more
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WASHINGTON • A Vermont teacher whose homemade mittens went viral after Senator Bernie Sanders wore them at United States President Joe Biden's inauguration has found a manufacturer to fulfil the resulting thousands of orders for her cosy gloves.
"I have amazing news! I'm partnering with Vermont Teddy Bear to make Bernie's Mittens for everyone!!" Ms Jennifer Ellis tweeted on Saturday, adding that some of the proceeds would benefit the Make a Wish Vermont charity.
"I knew there had to be a way to get them to you - and I found it!!" the second-grade teacher said.
The 42-year-old had sent Mr Sanders a pair of her mittens - made from repurposed wool sweaters and lined with fleece made from recycled plastic bottles - after he lost to Mrs Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, as a consolation gift.
Last year, as Mr Sanders was running again for president, Ms Ellis learnt that he was wearing the mittens - "people were calling them his oven mitts" - but had lent them to someone else.
Ms Ellis said she was so touched that she sent Mr Sanders another 10 pairs.
The senator's homely brown and beige mittens featured prominently in a photo from the Jan 20 inauguration that showed him sitting alone, bundled up and seemingly unimpressed with the pomp and circumstance.
"Many, many of you have reached out, looking to buy a pair of these awesome mittens. Sadly, I don't really make them any more. But I want to make sure that you get a pair," Ms Ellis said in a video on the Vermont Teddy Bear Company website. "Everybody who wants these mittens will get them," she said with the enthusiasm of, well, a second-grade teacher.
Ms Ellis told Agence France-Presse three days after the inauguration that she had received around 13,000 e-mails from people wanting to buy her mittens. "Not just one pair - people want lots of them," she said.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
