You can support Bernie Sanders – and now he can support you.
Fans of the Democratic presidential hopeful can now purchase underwear with his face silk-screened on the rear, along with the popular slogan “Feel the Bern.”
Thank comedians Larry David and Ellen DeGeneres for inspiring the latest political fashion statement, which is not sanctioned by the campaign. After Sanders told DeGeneres last month that he preferred briefs over boxers, David picked up the thread during his ace impersonation of the Vermont democratic socialist on “Saturday Night Live.”
“I own one pair of underwear, that’s it,” David/Sanders said during an SNL send-up of the Democratic primary debate. “Some of these billionaires, they’ve got three, four pairs!”
That viral scene inspired a team of three Vermont-based Sanders supporters to launch the Bernie-branded briefs, which go for $15, with 10% of the profit donated to the Yellow Ribbon Fund to benefit veterans.
“Bernie is known as a champion of veterans so we wanted to give (some of the proceeds) to an organization that he would appreciate the money going towards,” said Todd Bailey, one of the creators of the undergarment line and a partner at KSE Partners, a government affairs and communications firm in Montpelier.
The underwear, available for both men and women, has proven so popular that there are now plans to sell T-shirts with images of the briefs.
“We’re all from Vermont and we’ve all voted for Bernie a number of times,” said Bailey, whose company worked with Sanders during the candidate’s time as mayor of Burlington. “And he’s a little bit quirky. People really latch on to the combination of his personality as well as what he stands for.”
So what does Sanders think of it all?
“It cracks me up, it’s unbelievable,” he told Burlington local station WCAX of the Bernie underwear earlier this week.