Red noses - and red clothes - have been selling out across Colchester.

Town centre stores reported a record leap in the number of red jeans, T-shirts and jumpers being sold and Sainsbury's stores were down to their last few red noses as everyone got into the spirit of Red Nose Day today .

But organisers said money spent on new clothes could have been better used in donations to the charity day. Schools asked pupils to turn up dressed in the colour today as part of their fundraising activities, and parents have been prepared to stump up the cash to buy them.

A spokeswoman for Comic Relief said it was encouraging people to wear the colour today, but did not expect fundraisers to go out and buy new clothes for the occasion.

"Anything from a blob of red lipstick on the nose to an old T-shirt will do," she said.

Natalie Catterall, manager at Adams in the Culver Precinct, said: "We never normally have people asking for red in the run up to summer, particularly in girls wear.

"They have been wanting tops, trousers, and whole outfits."

Parents have been in and out of Key West Kids in St Botolph's Street all week trying to get their hands on red clothes. T-shirts, jumpers and shorts have all been snapped up, along with a few red school sweaters.

A spokeswoman said: "We are running very low on red clothes as we are selling so many."

Staff at BhS have reported a surge in red sales and Mothercare was today down to its last few pairs of red jeans and T-shirts.

Manager Karen Fainty said: "We were lucky we had a few pairs of red jeans."

Red noses have been selling like hot cakes at the Sainsbury's store in Kingsway, Colchester... they have shifted more than 4,000.

And sales have been good at the Stanway branch too, with nearly 500 sold. Staff at the Homebase store in St Andrew's Avenue sold out of everything with a red nosed connection last week, as did Oxfam in St John's Street.

Red noses sold out entirely in Clacton and at Harwich there are none of the three selected shops at all.

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