Organisers say the Rethink Red Sanctions project aims to stand in solidarity with victims of food sanctions, while highlighting the increase of foodbank use.
"Within the first week I'd sold 30 or 40 of them, as people were wearing them from all over the country. I'm just hoping that will grow because what I want is that visual presence every Friday that raises questions, makes people think and hopefully puts a bit of conscience into people," said campaign organiser Tracey Hume, who's a deacon in the Methodist Church in Newcastle.
The deacon said she chose Friday because its the day of the week people faced with benefit sanctions are most vulnerable.
"I deliberately chose Fridays because that's a really hard day for people on sanctions, because none of the offices are open over the weekend, and so they have very little access to practical help, so we run our foodbank on a Friday," added Deacon Hume.
In 2014, one million benefit sanctions were imposed on people. This means their payments stopped for a period of between one month and three years. The most common reason for being sanctioned is being late or not turning up for an appointment.
