Woman Who Made Bernie Sanders’ Mittens From Inauguration Day Overwhelmed With 13,000 Orders From S-mitten Fans!

Woman Who Made Bernie Sanders’ Mittens From Inauguration Day Overwhelmed With 13,000 Orders From S-mitten Fans!

The United States Presidential Inauguration gave not just Americans but the entire world a lot to obsess over. Some chose to dissect every word of POTUS Joe Biden’s speech. Some couldn’t help but oscillate between feeling proud about Vice President Kamala Harris and admiring her step daughter Ella Emhoff’s eyebrow dance! And let’s not forget the four incredible women—Lady Gaga, Jeniffer Lopez, Amanda Gorman and Michelle Obama with that pantsuit—that were the cynosure of all eyes! But who would’ve thought that the person to steal everyone’s thunder would be none other than Senator Bernie Sanders, in his winter coat and mittens! Viral meme alert!

It was a rather cold and windy day, with everyone present for the ceremony bundled up in their fashionable coats and jackets. But it was Sanders’ completely non-glamourous sartorial choices, i.e those comfy, warm-looking wooly mittens in brown and beige, that trumped them all! Thanks to his interviews, we know that the man was simply trying to keep warm. But just everything about his look, coupled with his utter lack of facial expressions, at that singular moment screamed meme-material!

If you haven’t already, I’m once again asking you to check out how the Vermont senator has become another viral meme that has outlasted the popularity of the actual Inauguration!

 

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And not just Hollywood films and shows, Bernie Sanders is now a part of some popular Bollywood movie memes too!

 

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Also Read: Rapper Raja Kumari Represented India At The Biden-Harris Inauguration That Was Full Of Nods To Diversity And Inclusivity

The popularity that comes with viral memes like these is not always good. But for the woman who made the mittens that Senator Sanders was wearing, it has been overwhelming, but in a good way. 43-year-old elementary school teacher Jennifer Ellis lived a quiet life in the town of Essex Junction, Vermont, until last week. For quite some time now, she has been making mittens from repurposed wool sweaters, with fleece made from recycled plastic bottles for the inside lining. In fact, in 2016, when Bernie Sanders lost to Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary, Ellis, a fan of Sanders, sent him a pair.

She eventually found out from an acquaintance that Bernie Sanders liked her gift and was actually wearing the mittens around, and had even lent them to someone else. Touched by this, she sent him 10 more pairs of mittens!

But that initial fame from Sanders sporting the mittens made by her was nothing at all compared to how it all blew up when he sported them at the Inauguration on Wednesday and became a viral meme! Jen Ellis was teaching an online class when her phone began buzzing, with messages pointing out that Sanders was wearing her mittens.

Ellis has been loving the Bernie Sanders memes that show no signs of disappearing just yet, and believes the laughs are just what people need right now. She is happy to have facilitated that in some way. “I mean, people are so funny. And that’s what we need right now. It’s a very tough time for a lot of people, people have had a rough year, and they need something to laugh about that’s totally harmless and not political. The thing that I wish for everybody is more joy. And you know, if you have something and you give it away, and it brings somebody joy and then it blows up and the entire world experiences joy, that’s amazing,” she said.

While the memes are doubling down on their hilariousness with each passing day, Jennifer Ellis’ email inbox has reportedly been flooded with orders. In less than a week, she has received 13,000 emails from people interested in buying the viral mittens, and most of them want more than one pair!

It’s going to be impossible for Ellis, with her 30-year-old sewing machine and a full-time job as a school teacher, to make enough mittens to satiate all the customer requests. You’d think she’d be marshalling efforts to arrange additional help and hike up the prices, but Ellis doesn’t want to do that.

“I think it would just ruin the beauty of it if I started price gouging people,” she says.

While Ellis comes with such noble intentions, which are so rare to see in this day and time, there are other online stores that have begun offering knock-offs priced as high as $85 (INR 6198)! And knowing how crazy people are about these kinda things, they’re probably paying that price too, just so they can flaunt what has clearly become a coveted fashion accessory this season, thanks to Bernie Sanders. But Jennifer Ellis doesn’t mind. She wishes them all luck, and won’t be over-stretching herself for this.

NGL, the Gujju in me feels that little pinch that the woman chose to let go of this amazing money-making idea. But you’ve got to admire her stance! I have a feeling that this one tryst with fame will earn her enough notoriety to make her mittens popular for a long, long time!

https://thehauterfly.com/culture-2/pearls-purple-and-plenty-of-overcoats-fashion-at-the-biden-harris-inauguration-ceremony-was-deeply-meaningful/

Jinal Bhatt

A Barbie girl with Oppenheimer humour. Sharp-tongue feminist and pop culture nerd with opinions on movies, shows, books, patriarchy, your boyfriend, everything.

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