Okay, we’ve all heard the " Why do you always see single shoes and not pairs by the side of the road" question, but this one is a little harder.
While I was working in Brussels, stories circulated about one MEP ( Member of European Parliament) named Florus Wijesenbeek who , in addition to riding his bicycle inside the Parliament and hitting two people, had posed a very strange Parliamentary Question. Keep in mind that PQ’s require an investigation and report to committee, all of which costs about 50,000 USD to do. The PQ was " Why do more left shoes than right wash up each year on the shores of the Netherlands?"
The answer I’ve always heard to this (besides the obligatory “who the fuck cares?” and " Whoa, that dude has some of the good Amsterdam shit") is that companies like Nike ship container loads of right and left shoes separately. Something to do with specialised manufacturing, apparently.
Anyone out there got a better explanation?
Coldfire, ever hear of this guy? I met him in a bathroom once, and he seemed pretty cool.
I did know that more left than right shoes turn up at our shores, but I did not know that a member of the EP asked a question about it!
Quite frankly, I think the guy ought to be kicked in the nads for pissing away my taxmoney like that. I’ll do a little research on the man, and I’ll get back to you.
The question in itself is intriguing, but has no place in the EP, of course. What was the guy thinking? We’re under attack!! Right-Wing Yankee Sneakers are invading the Dutch Dunes!!
Actually, the first thing to do is establish that there really is a statistically significant difference. I doubt it, but if there is, container loads of right and left shoes are patently absurd, and I’m prepared to dismiss it out of hand. However, I have a counter, anyway:
Container ship spills of cargos of small identifiable floating objects are used to track ocean currents. This includes a large spill of Nike shoes - some of the accounts mention that the ship was carrying a large variety of shoe styles, ranging from children’s sneakers to hiking boots.
They also mention that the pairs became separated because the right and left shoes weren’t tied together. It was a valuable spill because the shoes could be identified by serial number. Most accounts mention the more giggle-inducing load of rubber duckies that was also very valuable for this research:
If you’re really curious, you might contact the researchers at the end of that article, who express in interest in hearing about floating trash. Unfortunately, they don’t give email addresses.
I was actually on the coast of Washington State in a town called Long Beach when the Nike shoes started washing up. I was just a kid so it musta been around 1980 (I am guessing here). Anyhoo my sister and I found shoes right and left! <insert chuckle> Our challenge was to find a matching pair, we never did.
I work for a major US shoe company. Let me say that left and right shoes are NOT separated on the container ships. Pairs of shoes are boxed as pairs before they leave the factories. We use the same factories that most of the other shoe companies do. I hope that helps answer your question.