Carnival Cruise Line Has a New Plan for Guests’ Forgotten Shoes

Carnival Cruise Line is partnering with Miami-based Sneaker Impact, marking the company's first-ever tie-up with a cruise line, to keep unclaimed and donated shoes out of landfills. Shoes left behind by guests or crew will be sent to Sneaker Impact's Miami facility, where wearable pairs are sold at a discount to small businesses in developing regions and unwearable ones are broken down into raw materials for products like athletic surfaces, yoga mats, and new shoes. In July, with only five ships offloading shoes, Carnival kept more than 500 pairs out of landfills in a single month. Carnival estimates the initiative could eventually give a second life to around 50,000 pairs once scaled across its entire fleet. Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald has previously highlighted the scale of the line's lost-and-found operation, estimating around 1,000 lost items are processed weekly.