In the United Kingdom, Christmas jumpers became popular during the 1980s after a variety of television presenters such as
Gyles Brandreth and
Timmy Mallett began wearing them during the Christmas holidays. In particular, their popularity may be attributed to the influence of singers such as
Andy Williams and
Val Doonican, who appeared in these types of jumpers in their television Christmas specials. They are often seen as a hand-made present knitted by an elderly relative that are given as a Christmas present. with online retailer
Amazon reporting an increase in sales of 600% in 2011, and the trend has been followed by a number of celebrities. Ugly Christmas Sweater Contests are held annually in the United States. In 2012, the British newspaper
The Daily Telegraph described them as "this season's must have", with retailer
Topman selling 34 different designs alone and reporting sales had increased 54% compared to 2011. The charity
Save the Children runs an annual
Christmas Jumper Day each year in December using the slogan "Make the world better with a sweater". It encourages people to raise money for the charity by wearing their Christmas jumpers on a specific day.
The New York Times reported in 2012 that a major venue for sweater sales are independent company websites, with ugly-sweater themed names. Environmental charity Hubbub reported in 2019 that up to 95% of Christmas jumpers are made using plastic, and that two-fifths of them are worn only once. A spokeswoman for Hubbub described the Christmas jumper as "one of the worst examples of
fast fashion" and urged people to "swap, buy second-hand or re-wear" rather than buy new. ==References==