Abandoned footwear

Abandoned footwear, generally a lone boot or shoe, is frequently noted in ponds and along roadsides (particularly highways). It is not known why old shoes and boots seem to be publicly abandoned more often than other articles of clothing, such as shirts or caps.

While the practice of publicly abandoning old shoes has been noted in multiple countries (including Great Britain) it does not seem to have any set meaning attached to it and may be a simple form of imitation.

It is possible that shoes, being more sturdily constructed than most other types of clothing, simply last longer after being abandoned outdoors—leather shoes, for instance, are estimated to last for 25-40 years outside.

However, the opposite of this hypothesis is the commonness of obviously intentional shoe abandonment, such as shoe tossing, in which shoes are tied together by their laces and thrown in great numbers into trees, over power lines, or over fences

In popular culture, a fisherman hauling up an old boot, rather than a fish, is a cliché comic-strip joke.

References

• http://www.widemedia.com/fashionuk/news/2004/08/02/news0003247.html Re-use your shoes | fuk.co.uk
• http://www.snopes.com/crime/gangs/sneakers.htm
• http://www.recycle.ubc.ca/littermain.html Litter Reduction Program - UBC Waste Management

See also

• Shoe tossing