Would you dig through trash for free fashion?  With the economy still affecting much of the country, people are always looking for ways to save money.  Over 50 New Yorkers scored scored free name brand shoes Sunday night in Union Square by taking initiative.

I was leaving Max Brenner’s with my Twitter friend @Nukirk when we saw a group of people gathered in front of Shoemania on the corner of Broadway and 14th.  As we approached, it appeared that people were looking at the bags of trash on the curb.  Some bags had been opened and people were looking through the trash for shoes.

There were about 30 people separating empty boxes, loose paper and empty soda cups from shoes.  There were murmurs that there were only left shoes but that was quickly squashed when someone yelled, “I found a pair!”.  People moved in quickly, opening up new bags and pouring the contents onto the sidewalk.  A young couple had found 4 pairs of mens shoes and had them lined up near Storemania’s closed doors.  I chatted with several people who apparently had found matching pairs of shoes.  Nukirk overheard people working together to find matches.

There were all sorts of shoes including Adidas, Crocs, Converse, Ed Hardy, Dansko, Sketchers, Teva, Donald Pliner, MBT, Steve Madden, Mephisto, Ecco and Dr. Martins.  Styles included everything from women’s heels and sandals to men’s dress shoes and high end sneakers.

For some human sociology reason, this sort of behaviour captivated me.  I snapped a few photos at this unique flashmob event.  A taxi slowed down to check out what was going on.  A woman in a tan SUV stopped as if she was considering joining the free-for-all.  I asked Nukirk if he wanted to join in.  We edged our way into the crowd as I exclaimed how people were overcoming the social messages that “dumpster diving” is a bad thing.  I’ve seen some beautiful furniture pieces my friends have landed at garage sales, on Craigslist and yes, dumpster diving on the weekends.  I started by watching others toss and sort shoes.  Nukirk was hopeful he’d match up a pair of artsy sneakers.  I scanned for matching pairs, tossing and sorting shoes to the sidewalk to make this a cooperative dumpster delight.

I ended up scoring a pair of brown sandals early on and had a great time joining all these enterprising New Yorkers in getting a great deal!  As we looked for our pairs, people stopped, stared, joined in, took photos and helped others find matching pairs.

As I left in a taxi with my score, I saw the crowd had swelled and wished everyone good luck in finding their next pair *smile*