The Sock Mystery

About a year ago I had more pairs of socks than would fit comfortably in a drawer. By my own estimation, it was an enormous amount. Perhaps thousands of pairs. Now, after having thrown away none of those socks, I have a small bag of unmatched socks and about seven remaining pairs in various styles, some black, some white and a couple pairs with stripes. What happened to all my socks? (Shown above is my longest surviving pair, ironically, a pair that I have meant to throw away for some time now.)