TODAY: You might have seen us mention that there’s a day for everything — alphabet magnets, sleepovers, pizza, ice cream, scrapbooks, orange juice … you get the idea.
So we’re not sure why we were surprised that today, May 9, is National Lost Sock Memorial Day. The National Day Calendar tells us, “It is time to say “good-bye” to all of the single socks, the ones where their mates have been lost to the unknown. Where do all the missing socks go? Is there a washing machine heaven? This is a question people have been trying to solve for many centuries. An answer may never be found to this problem, and life will go on. How sad to have lost such a close-knit friend!”
Folks are encouraged to celebrate with some sleuthing — can you ferret out where that single sock is stashed?
People lose, on average, 15 socks a year. That’s around 1,264 socks in a lifetime.
Of course, writing about this sent us down the proverbial rabbit hole to learn more about socks. Dowi Hosiery Mills had a page dedicated to answering our questions.
On average, a man should own 10 to 20 pairs of socks, and replace them every 4 to 7 months. You see, 73% of men wear socks almost daily, while only 41% of women do.
In the U.S., 64% of adults wear socks at home, while 11.5% sleep with their socks on. (This doesn’t specify if that’s year-round or in the winter, because we think that would make a difference.)
How many socks are made in the world? On average, 21.2 million pairs each year, as of 2019.
Now you know.
