Stores run out of Zwarte Piet costumes

Despite all the protests and controversy, Zwarte Piet costumes and black face paint are flying off the shelves. In Breda Cees van der Horst has been selling and renting Zwarte Piet costumes for thirty years. He has never before sold and rented so many costumes in the run up to Sinterklaas. And despite everything, his customers want black. Wholesalers in Breda are also receiving dozens of orders for black Zwarte Piet costumes. "It is a tripling compared to other years and never before have so many orders been placed in this early." Even more remarkable is the color of face paint ordered by the organizing staff associations of the Sinterklaas festival. They don't want black, they want pitch black. Van der Horst did not expect the enormous interest in a real old fashioned Zwarte Piet. He prepared for an UN Piet. A Piet in a blue suit and face painted in bright colors. But there is no interest in that.