Our house is probably similar to many others with small(ish) kids in that we have a seemingly endless supply of orphaned gloves, mittens & socks. Yvonne was going through the winter stuff one day last week and pulled out more lone gloves & mittens than pairs. Where did they all go? We go through the lost & found at school and church very chance we get, but rarely score anything, so it sure seems like these things just up and walk away. Or our boys eat them, which is probably more likely.
The question is, what do you do with the ones that are left behind? Most often they just get tossed, but that’s such a waste, I rarely do it. Thankfully, Yvonne does, so our collection isn’t what it could be.
Seeing the pile of lone mittens & gloves that day made me think about a possible solution, so I went to Google to see if I’m the only crazy with a hangup about widowed handware or not… Surprisingly (or not) there have been efforts to bring the parted pairs back together — Lost Glove was an effort that ended back in 2007, and was in the UK. More recently, there was One Cold Hand, which was essentially an art project in Philadelphia, but looks like a flash in the pan, so who knows how long that’ll be around. Lands End does something that’s a bit unique; with their Lost Mitten Club, if you lose one of your Lands End gloves or mittens, you can call the Club’s toll-free number and buy a replacement for half the price of a pair. Not exactly much help for those of us who don’t shop Lands End, but it’s something.
What is needed is an organization that accepts lost & found gloves or mittens mailed in from all over, then organizes them, matches them up with the other hand, then sells them online and/or in a store, or gives them away. And even the gloves that can’t be matched up with a mate can maybe be given to one-armed people…
No, I don’t think I’m the one to put flesh on this idea (as good as it might be) so here’s the concept, out there for the taking. Working out the business model and whether it’ll hold water financially, that’s your baby. Email me when you get things going and I’ll give you an address where the royalty checks can be mailed. PayPal works too if you prefer. Thanks!
/tongue_firmly_in_cheek