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The image of Senator Bernie Sanders in his ‘grandad’ coat and wearing knitted mittens to the US inauguration went viral online, inspiring a deluge of memes. Now, it is also generating big bucks.
The Bernie’s Mittens Crochet Doll is selling on eBay for $US14,900 ($A19,300), as of Sunday afternoon.
With proceeds from sales going to charity, the doll is a replica of a masked Mr Sanders sitting arms-crossed in his fold-out chair and cosy mittens – a moment joked about and celebrated on social media.
Another money-maker was a website which uses Google Maps Street View to place the Sanders image at any address – the brainchild of New York University student Nick Sawhney.
His tweet about it has been retweeted over 48,000 times and it’s been liked more than 248,000 times.
“Oh my god I did not expect this I am overjoyed so many ppl like it! trying my best to keep it from crashing,” Mr Sawhney said in a follow-up tweet.
The meme generator included everything from bobbleheads and stickers to paintings and drawings.
There are even links where consumers can buy the high fashion versions of Mr Sanders’ outfit.
People were quick to chuckle over the 79-year-old independent Vermont Senator’s look, which Mr Sanders himself said was more about keeping warm than fashion.
“You know in Vermont, we dress warm, we know something about the cold, and we’re not so concerned about good fashion – we want to keep warm. And that’s what I did today,” Mr Sanders told CBS.
People were particularly enthralled with the Senator’s mittens, which were made by a Vermont elementary schoolteacher who has a side business making mittens out of recycled wool.
“I love it that he loves them, and that he wears them,” Jen Ellis, an elementary schoolteacher, told NECN-TV. “And I’m totally honoured that he wore them today.”
Mr Sanders fully embraced his viral moment as his team recently debuted a “Chairman Sanders Crewneck” sweater, reportedly made in the US out of ring-spun organic cotton fleece, on a product page on the Bernie Campaign Store.
It’s now sold out, and a warning on the website states: “Due to overwhelming demand for this item, it will be four to eight weeks until you receive your sweatshirt.”
The Chairman Sanders Crewneck retailed for $US45 ($A58). However, 100 per cent of the proceeds will go to Meals on Wheels Vermont, according to Mr Sanders’ campaign website.
This story originally appeared on Fox News and was reproduced here with permission
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