INDEX: Shoefiti Retail Shoe Display

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This Shoefiti Retail Shoe Display index page aggregates links
to all posts and photos of retail merchandising, display, and outfitting
as well as deep Background courtesy of Wikipedia.

BACKSTORY: Shoe-tossing, also known as shoefiti, is the act of using footwear as a projectile in a number of folk sports and cultural practices. Shoe-tossing entails throwing a pair of laced shoes onto raised wires, such as telephone wires and power lines, or tree branches, creating “shoe trees“.^[1]^[2]

Shoe-tossing occurs throughout North America, Latin America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa in both rural and urban areas. Often, the shoes are sneakers. Other times, they are leather shoes and boots.^[3]

Many cultural variations exist, and differences abound between socioeconomic areas and age groups. In some cultures, shoes are flung as part of a rite of passage, like to commemorate the end of a school year or a forthcoming marriage. For example, in Victorian England, people would pelt “a bride and bridegroom with old shoes when they start on their honeymoon.”^[4] Some theories suggest the custom originated with members of the military, who are said to have thrown military boots, often painted orange or some other conspicuous color, at overhead wires as a part of a rite of passage after completing basic training or when leaving the service.^[5] In the 1997 film Wag the Dog, shoe tossing is an allegedly spontaneous tribute to Sgt. William Schumann, played by Woody Harrelson, who has purportedly been shot down behind enemy lines in Albania.^[6]

Shoe-tossing may be a form of bullying, where a bully steals a pair of shoes and tosses them where they are unlikely to be retrieved.^[3] Shoe tossing has also been explained as a practical joke played on drunks, who wake up to find their shoes missing.

Shoes on a telephone wire are popularly said to be linked to organized crime, signifying the location of gang turf or commemorating the death of a gang member. The shoes are also rumored to mark a spot for drug deals, although a 2015 study of shoe-tossing data in Chicago rejected this explanation. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

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