Thousands of women will wear pink 'pussy hats' the day after Trump's inauguration

On January 21, a day after Donald Trump's inauguration, approximately 200,000 people will march on Washington DC to advocate for gender equality.

Tens of thousands of them will also participate in the Pussyhat Project and sport "pussy hats" - pink knitted beanies with cat ears.

The hats serve as a symbol of solidarity for the protestors, project co-organizer Jayna Zweiman tells Business Insider. Anyone planning to march can download a crochet, knit, or sew pattern for the hat on the project's site. Alternatively, people can make and send them to the organizers to give away at DC's march.

Since it launched in late November, the project has garnered thousands of social media followers, and Zweiman estimates nearly 100,000 people have downloaded the hat's pattern. Amy Schumer, Patti Smith, Rosanne Cash, and Krysten Ritter have posted photos of themselves wearing the hats, too.

Following the election, Zweiman and co-organizer Krista Suh designed the hat's pattern with the owner of The Little Knittery, a Los Angeles-based knitting shop. Besides the cat-ear shape, the hat's name was inspired by Trump's 2005 comments in the Access Hollywood audio leaked in October 2016, in which he bragged about grabbing women by their genitals.

The Pussyhat project is "about women refusing to be erased from political discussion," Suh says.

The team has also organized knit-alongs - where people can learn how to make the hats together - in 100 knitting shops across the country. Suh and Zweiman say they have received hats from people outside the US, including those in Scandinavia, New Zealand, and Canada, who can't make the march but want to show support.

Suh says she received an email from a daughter whose mother participated in the 1963 March on Washington with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. For this march, however, the daughter needs to take care of her mother, but they knitted and sent their hats to the project's organizers "to represent their family at the march."

Two days after the project's launch, Zweiman also received a note from a woman whose daughter used to be an avid knitter. But she quit after she suffered a brain injury and had trouble maneuvering one of her hands. The pussy hat, which is a simple pattern, inspired her to start looming again.

"No matter who you are, no matter what your skill-set is, people can help you make it. Everyone can participate," Zweiman says.