This year’s ugly Microsoft sweater has a suggestion for you: It’s Clippy

 

I'm not always a fan of corporate whimsy—like when brands' Twitter accounts have "attitude" or when companies put together cringe-worthy April Fools' Day pranks—but I do enjoy Microsoft's now-yearly tradition of releasing ugly sweaters with retro Windows patterns printed on them. Two years ago, the patterns were MS Paint- and Windows logo-themed. Last year's pattern paid homage to Windows 3.1-era Minesweeper. And this year's brings back an old frenemy: Clippy.

 

Though his days as a ubiquitous Microsoft Office mascot ended when Office 2007 was released, Clippy has found a second life as Windows 11's version of the paperclip emoji. Clippy was not, unfortunately, open-sourced along with the rest of Microsoft's emoji designs over the summer, owing to his status as a copyrighted character.

 

Clippy is the hero of the new sweaters, but there are other little Office- and Windows-themed touches, too—an old-school Windows logo on the back, the Office ruler on the top, some formatting buttons on the sleeves, and falling stacks of paper throughout.

 

Unlike lots of early sweaters, Microsoft's is actually a knit sweater and not a sweatshirt with a pattern printed on it.

 

On the back, you can see more of the Office ruler plus stacks of paper.

 

The Clippy sweater is available in sizes small through 3XL and costs $75 no matter what size you get. That's a bit on the pricey side, but unlike a lot of ugly sweaters, the Clippy one does appear to be an actual knit sweater and not a sweatshirt with a pattern printed on it. As part of its promotional efforts around the sweater, Microsoft also says it will donate $100,000 to the College Success Foundation.

 

There's no word on whether we can expect sweaters honoring the many other Microsoft Office Assistant designs, like the red dot or the Einstein-looking guy or the little robot. Rover, the yellow dog from Microsoft Bob and the Windows XP search dialog, is also MIA.

 

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