FoundClothing

White Shoes

Joe M500 says he found these shoes in the early morning hours of November 5 in the 1100 block of S. Des Plaines, Chicago, IL.

Rogers Park Cheetos

A resident of the Chicago neighborhood of Rogers Park who goes by the name "Estes Dude" has been documenting the Cheetos bags that he finds left in the street.

Abandoned Boots Finder

This guy has some abandoned boots on his flickr page.

Shoenisia

Martin, who writes the PlasticLess blog, found this shoe on 1/10/09 in Bizerte, Tunisia. "I write about the environmental impact of plastic and I was photographing all the boring litter that had washed up on the beach when I stumbled upon this lovely shoe," he writes. Check out his blog, which discusses ways to stop using so much plastic.

City of Sad Toys

Pittsburgher Al Hoff is known by many for her zine Thrift Score, which is about thrifting. In December 2008 she launched City of Sad Toys, which is kind of like this site except dedicated to lost and abandoned toys that she and others find on the street. It's a great idea, so check out the site and contribute.

UPDATE: Al's posted a picture of a teddy bear I found in Braddock, PA.

Brown Boots

New contributor Vasiliisa found these in Helsinki, Finland on 04/21/08.

My name (Lauri) is a popular man's name in Finland.

Purple Gloves

Found by DJ Bass in Broadstairs, UK on 12/07/08.

Pee-Wee Herman Shoes

Found by Perfectly Good on 12/03/08 in Chicago, IL.

Hoochiewear

Perfectly Good found this beautiful work blouse on 12/28/08 in Chicago, IL.

Coming Soon: FoundBaconGreaseMeals.diaryland.com

In addition to today's national news stories officially announcing that we've been in a recession since last year (SRSLY?), I've received a few emails in the past couple of days from other Chicagoanas who have projects and Websites dedicated to finding things in the trash. Several emails in 2-3 days means that "finding things in the trash" might be on its way to becoming an official and growing TREND, at least according to some mainstream media measurements. Certainly it will become more mainstream, if the economy continues doing what it's doing (fall apart) and people find themselves without enough money to buy brand-new stuff.

The Websites:

Perfectly Good actually has a project underway that involves photographing her finds as well as collecting people's stories about finding and leaving things in the trash. You can see some of her discoveries below (and at right -- lace camisole).

And today, Chicagoan Diana Durkes wrote to say she has been following this site for a few months, and recently created her own online shrine to the lost and found: FineDiving. She blogged about FoundClothing back in October. Because Chicago is actually a small town dressed up in skyscrapers, Diana has already heard about Perfectly Good, and has blogged about her (as well as other people who have been pursuing found item projects).

Get in on the action, folks! Set up your own found____.whatever.com Websites. Found = franchise/a potential pathway to microstardom. Some ideas for new "FoundWebsites" that a friend and I recently came up with, all free for the taking:

-- foundrawmeat.wordpress.com
-- foundcookies.livejournal.com
-- foundproblems.pitas.com
--foundbureaucracy.tumblr.com
-- The bacon grease one, which references The Grapes of Wrath; the Joads ate bacon grease in their gruel (foundgruel.typepad.com) "for strength."

In all seriousness, it's great that people are coming up with their own sites and spins on finding things in the trash. That's change I can believe in.

Shoes-o-Rama

Chicagoan Perfectly Good is a champion finder of clothing and accessories, as well as household items. This pic of shoes is from 10/27/08.

Cat Costume

Found by Perfectly Good in Chicago on 10/27/08.

Turtle Boots

Perfectly Good found these amazing turtle boots in Chicago on 11/10/08.

Coat Saver's Collection

The flickr pool says hello to coat saver, who appears to be a British person who finds lots of coats and saves them. This one is a Helly Hansen; photo taken 10/12/08. "This was a star find," coat saver writes. "Back in 2002, driving down a street, this coat was folded up and sat on the top of a wheelie bin with the lid resting on it. In near perfect condition apart from one small cig burn on a sleeve. Size M/L." Check out coat saver's finds -- from Umbro to Nike -- at their photo stream.

Hoodie

Chicagoan Eric/Uber-Tuber sent this pic a couple of weeks ago, and this note: "I found this off a little path I discovered, while bicycling near Ravenswood Manor and Albany Park. It's along the North Shore Channel. This gray hoodie was in between the rocks. It was all wet, so I just took a picture as I found it, and left it there. It made me wonder if someone had jumped into the water with it on."

OddShoeFinder.com

The other day I received an email from Kent, the operator of OddShoeFinder.com, which allows users to buy and sell mismatched shoes. "The site is for people who have such severely mismatched feet that they must buy two pairs of shoes at a time," he says. One can find a pair of Manolo Blahniks for $10, and there are many other famous brands for sale.

"Many of the shoes end up being destroyed because there is not both a left and right shoe in that particular brand, style, and color," says Kent. "However, a substantial percentage are salvaged. To top it off, some construction workers saw some boots being discarded and asked if they could have them. They sorted the shoes by size and wear different brand and/or style boots on each foot to pour concrete. Then they discard the boots. This prevents their ruining their good boots."

Baby Shoe

Lettuce1 found this baby shoe on 7/26/08 in London, UK.

Shoe

DJ Bass found this abandoned woman's shoe with military insignia in Ramsgate, UK on 10/18/08.

Stripes

DJ Bass took this one at Westgate-on-Sea, UK on 10/12/08.

Denier 90 Tights

 "Found these 90 Denier Tights outside a school...nothing wrong with them," says finder Neil Booth, who is from the U.K.

Shoes

Found in Deptford Borough, UK by Lettuce1 on 2/27/08.

Trainer

Lettuce1 photographed this in the UK on 11/02/07.

White Shoe

A majestic white shoe found by DJ Bass in Margate, UK on 10/10/08.

Polo Shirt

DJ Bass found this one in Birchington, UK on 10/09/08.

Blue Snorkel Parka

Photographed by Longyman in October 2008. Longyman has apparently been on a winter coat-finding spree of late, as the next few coat posts are hers. About this one: "Found partially burried in a muddy car park. After a clean, it really is like new."