The brilliant reason why there's a pink wool shortage in Washington

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Donald Trump’s inauguration committee might have had a pretty tough few weeks scrambling to secure attendees (and rubbishing reports of slow tickets sales), but for wool sellers in the Washington D.C area it’s been a pretty bumper fortnight.

The most controversial presidential inauguration in recent times has had an unlikely side effect — sales of pink wool have shot through the roof.

It’s all thanks to a movement sparked by the incoming President’s leaked comments ahead of last year’s US election (one of the more revolting Donald Trump quotes - though admittedly the list is long) about sexually molesting women.

‘I did try and f**k her, she was married’, Trump said to TV host Billy Bush in a piece of leaked audio from 2005, boasting that he was able to ‘grab’ women ‘by the pussy’ without them apparently batting an eyelid.

To remind the world of The Donald’s infamous words, ahead of the Women’s March on Washington on Saturday, women and men in their thousands have been busy knitting pink ‘pussy’ hats — complete with cat ears — to wear during the protest.

The ‘Pussyhat Project’ was launched back in November, with the aim of giving every single Washington protester a striking piece of headgear to march in (a practical measure too - given the weather on Saturday is expected to be hovering around a pretty nippy 4 degrees.) The project has seen donations of hand-knitted pink hats flood in from around the world, from countries including Austria, Britain and Japan — quite literally knitting together women around the world — while production in Washington has led to a shortage of pink wool.

The women's march on Saturday is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people, including a long list of celebrities who have shunned the inauguration, while Janelle Monae, Maxwell and Kidjo are scheduled to perform.

The Women’s March will be supported by ‘sister marches’ in 57 countries around the globe, including London (where team Marie Claire will be out in force), with well over a million people expected to take to the streets. In London the march will begin at the US Embassy in Grovesnor Square and end with a rally and speeches in Trafalgar Square, with charities including Amnesty International, Greenpeace, ActionAid UK, Oxfam, The Green Party and Pride London turning out to support.