The Importance of Socks to the US Economy
August 1st, 2013 by PotatoWhen searching for industry data reports for a project I saw one on socks and couldn’t help but download it.
“Clothing and textiles” too broad for you? Well, you’re in luck my dear, as the US Census Bureau separately tracks sock production, shipments, and inventory levels. Yes, you can obtain and analyze data on trends in mens’ socks, womens’ socks, and infant booties, broken down by material (are wool socks making a comeback against cotton and man-made fibres?) with quarterly resolution.
“Ah-ha!” you’re thinking, if you haven’t fallen asleep entirely, “This must be some historical throwback, like how the US patent office has those categories for patents on shoeing horses and mail delivery by train car that you talked about before.” And while that is a perfectly reasonable hypothesis, this granularity in sock production data collection started in 2004 as annual data. Then, with what must have been tremendous demand for information on how a nation kept its feet warm, dry, and blister-free, the Census Bureau started collecting quarterly data in 2006.
The world truly is a ridiculous place.
August 2nd, 2013 at 12:02 am
People these days are too obsessed with the sock market.
August 2nd, 2013 at 2:18 pm
I think it’s time for a sock-based economy.
August 2nd, 2013 at 3:47 pm
It took me right until the end of this article before I realized the title was about socks, not stocks.