NORTHFIELD, Vt. (WTEN) — Darn Tough Vermont has partnered with Vermont mitten maker, Jen Ellis, to make a custom wool sock that mimics the now-famous mittens Bernie Sanders wore on Inauguration Day.
Darn Tough says 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of the premium Merino socks will go directly to the Vermont Foodbank.
“This sock is not political. This is about Vermont, community and neighbors. It’s about Jen being a second-grade teacher and a mother who aims to do good for all,” says Ric Cabot, Founder and CEO of Darn Tough Vermont. “When Jen reached out to us, we immediately saw this as an opportunity to continue our support for the Vermont Foodbank, and we knew we had to do it.”
Darn Tough and the Vermont Foodbank had a quarterly custom sock program set to kick off this May, but the program started early when the opportunity with Ellis came up.
New sock designs will be released every three months, and those socks will benefit the Vermont Foodbank and potentially expand its hunger-relief efforts beyond the state later this year.
”I adore Darn Tough and I’m thrilled to partner with such an amazing and generous Vermont-based company,” Ellis said. “I want everyone to have a cozy, mitten-inspired sock, and now you really can. I hope they bring everybody joy!”
Ellis, who gifted the now-famous inauguration mittens to Sanders, made them in 2016, when she was making presents for her daughter’s teachers, according to NPR.
To date, Darn Tough has provided 538,960 meals to the Vermont Foodbank throughout their partnership. The official socks that give back to the Vermont Foodbank program will launch later in 2021.