Canada’s Olympic red-mittens craze spreads south of the border

PARK CITY, Utah – The U.S. Olympic Committee is taking a page from the red-mittens craze Canada sparked at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

The USOC will start selling its own blue mittens — with the words “Go USA” embroidered on the palms — on Oct. 29.

They’ll go for $14 a pair on the USOC website.

Proceeds from the sales will help U.S. athletes on their way to Sochi, Russia.

USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky acknowledges this isn’t the first time the United States has borrowed an idea from its neighbours to the north.

The USOC hopes the mittens will be as big a hit for the U.S. team as they were for Canada.

The popular all-red original mittens were a phenomenon during the Vancouver Olympics, with shoppers snatching up the patriotic fashion accessory with such enthusiasm that the trend even reached Oprah Winfrey, who distributed the mitts to her studio audience.

_With files from The Canadian Press.

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