The woolly mittens that US Senator Bernie Sanders wore to the presidential inauguration, sparking endless quirky memes across social media, has helped to raise NZ$2.52 million in the last five days for charitable organisations.
The sum comes from the sale of merchandise with the January 20 image of him sitting with his arms and legs crossed, clad in his brown parka and recycled wool mittens.
Sanders put the first of the so-called "Chairman Sanders” merchandise, including T-shirts, sweatshirts and stickers, on his website Thursday night and the first run sold out in less than 30 minutes, he said. More merchandise was added over the weekend and sold out by Monday morning, he said.