Where do all of our missing socks go?

Look in your sock drawer and count how many are missing their pair. They both went into the washing machine, and yet only one came back out. Trying to understand where the missing pair went might make you lose your mind. You may even hold on to the single sock in the hope that its pair will magically turn up one day. You’re not alone, though: a study conducted by Samsung found that every year a person loses on average about 15 socks, for a total of 1,264 in their lifetime.

But where do these lost socks end up? Is the washing machine a magic portal for small-sized clothes that makes them simply disappear? Do they disintegrate during the spinning cycle? These are some of the questions that the South Korean company wanted to answer scientifically. To that end, psychologist Simon Moore and statistics expert Geoff Ellis concluded, after numerous surveys, that some socks get lost before they reach the washing machine: they fall behind radiators or under furniture without anyone noticing.

This is when different psychological factors come into play. One of them is visual awareness or heuristics, “mental shortcuts that we use to solve problems, saving time and effort.” This means that when we lose something, we look for it in the most likely place it could be and, if it is not in one of those places, we write it off as lost and don’t invest any more time in it. The attention we pay during the most tedious household chores also comes into play, which is usually little to none. These scientists came up with a mathematical formula according to which they could find out how many socks we might lose depending on certain factors, such as the number of washing machine cycles we run per week, the number of people living together under the same roof and the complexity of the washes, i.e., whether we separate white clothes from colored ones, etc.

Another more recent study was carried out by the Whirlpool Institute of Science and this one confirmed what had always been suspected: washing machines swallow socks. According to the appliance company, the socks remain in a kind of limbo: the space between the outer and inner drums of top-loading washing machines, or under the rubber in the case of front-loading machines. All of these places are out of sight and thus lead to the mystery of the missing sock. Cathy Hind, who manages rental apartments in the United States with her husband, shared her discovery on the portal Bored Panda. When they took apart some of the machine machines in their properties in order to repair them, they found dozens of trapped socks that were at some point written off as lost.

To find out if it is possible to put an end to the curse of the missing sock once and for all, we asked Bego, la Ordenatriz, a tidiness influencer on Instagram. The expert has one simple solution: “having a disciplined routine” is key. In her case, with seven children, each one is in charge of managing their dirty clothes, taking them to the laundry basket one by one. To make it easier to identify the owner of the sock after the wash, each one has a small laundry net in which socks and underwear are placed. That way, the pairs are together and protected throughout the washing cycle, so as to not lose one in the process. The expert goes a step further and labels all socks with the name of their owner. She does not, however, recommend tying a knot to put them in the washing machine because “they would not wash well, as [the knot] does not allow the water and soap to [work effectively]. Always use the washing net,” she says.

Therefore, in order to ensure that no more socks are left without their pair, pay more attention when washing and storing clothes, and always wash them in a special mesh. Or you can continue to proudly celebrate Lost Sock Awareness Day, which takes place every May 9.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition