Guess gloves are most likely to be the object of this custom seen in Paris:
People picking up lost items of strangers so that they may not be stepped on/get dirty and can be found by their owners more easily later on.
Of course relying on the hope that the person may remember vaguely where the thing was lost, so that he/she may come back to find it.
A nice way of showing some urban solidarity to someone completely unknown.
(Have seen something similar in Iran: Any passer-by will pick up pieces of bread that have fallen on the ground. Nobody will eat anymore anyway, but it is still seen as something valuable that should not lie in the dirt.)

