Bernie Sanders is selling sweatshirts featuring his inauguration meme to raise money for charity

Bernie Sanders appears to have taken his new meme status in his stride and seen in it an opportunity to do some good. The Vermont senator and former presidential candidate gave us one of the most talked-about fashion moments at President Joe Biden's inauguration Wednesday when he showed up looking quite snug in a Burton parka and a pair of thick, brown, patterned mittens. One particular photo of the 79-year-old—socially distanced and a little cranky-faced, sitting on a folding chair on the Capitol steps with his arms and legs folded for warmth—almost immediately went viral on social media as netizens edited him into every imaginable scenario possible.

From the iconic door scene of Titanic to Game of Thrones to Sanders on a park bench with Forest Gump and Sanders with the Golden Girls, we've seen just about everything in the past few days. According to Insider, a student at New York University even created a website so people could place Inauguration Day Sanders anywhere in the world. Meanwhile, the senator's team wasted no time in leveraging his viral fashion moment into a product initiative for charity and released a sweatshirt featuring the iconic Sanders meme on the longtime politician's website.

Priced at $45, the unisex dark-grey crewneck is reportedly made in the U.S. from 100 percent combed ring-spun organic cotton fleece. The piece quickly became a favorite online and sold out in next to no time. Although the sweatshirt was back in stock on Friday afternoon in sizes small through 2XL, it appears to have sold out again. Sanders' campaign store online now states that because of overwhelming demand, the sweatshirts would arrive in four to eight weeks. Perhaps the most "Bernie" thing about the sweatshirt is that 100% of the proceeds will go towards Meals on Wheels Vermont.

Aside from all the attention online, Sanders has also received a lot of press about his inauguration style choice since Wednesday. "I was just sitting there trying to keep warm, trying to pay attention to what was going on," the senator told Seth Meyers during an appearance on NBC's Late Night with Seth Meyers. NBC News' Garrett Haake also tweeted that Sanders joked about the meme-related attention he has received, saying: "It makes people aware that we make good mittens in Vermont. We have some good coats, as well." It most definitely has gotten people interested in the senator's much-talked-about mittens and jacket.

The cozy mittens that turned heads and lit up social media were reportedly created by Vermont teacher Jane Ellis, who made them from repurposed wool sweaters and lined them with fleece from recycled plastic bottles. Speaking to NBC Boston about the moment she spotted the mittens on TV, she said: "I was like, 'There they are.' I love it that he loves them and that he wears them. And I'm totally honored that he wore them today." The Vermont school teacher later said in a tweet that the response to her mittens has been overwhelming.

Sanders also credited Ellis while speaking to Meyers, saying: "What was really nice, Seth, is that the woman who made the mittens lives in Essex Junction, Vermont, she is a schoolteacher and a very, very nice person, and she has been somewhat overwhelmed by the kind of attention that is being shown to her mittens." Sadly, Ellis tweeted Thursday that she received so many requests from people wanting to buy a pair that she is completely sold out on the patterned, hand-knit "smittens" — part mittens, part sweater. "Thanks for all the interest in Bernie's mittens! It truly has been an amazing and historic day! I'm so flattered that Bernie wore them to the inauguration. Sadly, I have no more mittens for sale. There are a lot of great crafters on ETSY who make them," Ellis wrote.