Jennifer Ellis has never met Bernie Sanders, and yet her name entered the history of the United States since Wednesday, January 20, alongside the senator from Vermont: because it was she who sewed the famous mittens that wore “Bernie” at Joe Biden's investiture ceremony.
Here are the famous mittens.
JONATHAN ERNST / REUTERS
To read also: Bernie Sanders bundled up on the sofa of "Friends": the viral meme of Jennifer Aniston
The 42-year-old teacher was leading, until Wednesday, "
a quiet life
" in her small town of Essex Junction, Vermont, she told AFP in a video interview.
She was teaching her CE1 students online when her phone began to emit a series of "
dings
".
Worried, she pauses to consult the messages: "
Bernie Sanders wears your mittens to the nomination
", they announced to him in substance.
'Same'
The story of these eco-friendly mittens - they are made from recycled wool, lined with fleece fabric made from also recycled plastic bottles - is touching.
Fan of the socialist senator, convinced ecologist, Jennifer had sent him a pair of mittens after her defeat against Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary for the 2016 presidential election, to console him.
She knew from common knowledge that he liked them very much.
Then last year, when "
Bernie
" tried again for the presidential election, she learned that he had lent the mittens to someone with cold hands.
“
I was so touched that I sent her 10 more pairs,
” she says.
Since Wednesday now, his phone has been ringing non-stop, his mailbox has exploded.
And an infinite number of 'memes' - images created by Internet users, showing the socialist senator from Vermont, soon to be in his eighties, bundled up in his down jacket and mittens, superimposed on Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper or other famous paintings - are published.
She could take advantage of his sudden notoriety: in two days, she received "
about 13,000 emails from people
" ready to buy her the same mittens, "
and not just a pair, they want a lot
".
But not only would she never be able to meet the demand, with her 30-year-old sewing machine and teaching job, she doesn't even want to.
"
It would spoil all the beauty of the thing
."
She prefers to spend her weekends with her family, with her five-year-old daughter.
And "
so much the better
", she says, if others take advantage of this sudden enthusiasm for her mittens: models were found on Friday claiming to be absolutely identical to hers for $ 85 a pair on certain websites.