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Thread: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

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    Oliphaunt Rube E. Tewesday's avatar
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    Default Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    After years of mostly wearing loafers and shoes with velcro fasteners, I got a pair of sneakers with laces. Said laces become untied the minute I go out the door. Well, likeliest assumption is that I'm too stupid to tie my own shoes. I can deal with that. However, when I bent down to re-tie my laces in the company of a friend of similar age (early fifties), she said "What's it with shoe laces any more? I can never keep them tied, either". Well, likeliest scenario is that we should both just wear crocs while we sit on the porch yelling at kids to get off the lawn, but it there anything to it? Are shoe laces today made of some new material that resists staying tied?

  2. #2
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    There have always been hard to keep tied laces. The worst are those round ones with a shiny outside. Change to a flat less slick variety.

  3. #3
    Oliphaunt
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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    I think (no cite) there are more cheap polyester or poly blend shoe laces being sold with the shoes, and those are slick and don't hold a knot as well for me. They still sell the plain ol' cotton ones, though, you just have to buy them in addition to your shoes.

    I'm sure it won't surprise you that there's an excellent website out there devoted to the art and science of tying your shoelaces. My favorite knot there for slippery and/or round laces is Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot. It looks tricky, but practice a few times with a shoe in your lap (not on your foot) and you'll get it in 10 minutes, I guarantee it. Once you get it, it's just as fast as the bunny ears or the "around the tree and down the hole" methods.
    Whatever became of the moment when one first knew about death? There must have been one. A moment. In childhood. When it first occurred to you that you don't go on forever. Must have been shattering. Stamped into one's memory. And yet, I can't remember it.

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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    Quote Originally posted by WhyNot
    My favorite knot there for slippery and/or round laces is Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot. It looks tricky, but practice a few times with a shoe in your lap (not on your foot) and you'll get it in 10 minutes, I guarantee it.
    There are other ways of tying one's shoes?

    I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this break from orthodoxy.

    Anyway, it seems to provide a nice degree of security -- you can untie it by pulling the laces (unlike with a standard double knot) but it takes more force than with a normal knot. Still, I don't think I have quite enough fingers to tie it with the same ease that I tie a normal knot.

  5. #5
    Oliphaunt
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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    Quote Originally posted by Excalibre
    Quote Originally posted by WhyNot
    My favorite knot there for slippery and/or round laces is Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot. It looks tricky, but practice a few times with a shoe in your lap (not on your foot) and you'll get it in 10 minutes, I guarantee it.
    There are other ways of tying one's shoes?

    I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this break from orthodoxy.
    Deep breaths, deep breaths. Yes, there are, apparently, a zillion ways to tie your shoelaces. Who'd have guessed? Well, except for Ian, I guess.

    I like the secure knot for just those reasons: it's still untieable with the ease of the regular knot, it's just not as slippable. It's really great for tying the shoes of little uns.
    Whatever became of the moment when one first knew about death? There must have been one. A moment. In childhood. When it first occurred to you that you don't go on forever. Must have been shattering. Stamped into one's memory. And yet, I can't remember it.

  6. #6
    Oliphaunt
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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    Quote Originally posted by WhyNot
    My favorite knot there for slippery and/or round laces is Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot.
    Wow, I've been tying my work boots that way for a couple of years. They have those infernal round, slippery shoelaces that never stayed tied. I thought I made it up!
    I'm not good at the advice. Can I offer you a sarcastic comment instead?

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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    I use almost exclusively Nike running shoes. These come with thick soft shoelaces with a rough texture and they never come undone. But I have noticed this problem with dress shoes like these: http://www.shoes.com/productimages/shoe ... 010693.jpg They have thin, hard and shiny shoelaces and I have to pull really hard to make the knot stay in place.

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    Sophmoric Existentialist
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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    When you buy skate laces, you can buy some that sort of stick or you can buy slippery ones. Seems kinda stupid to me.

    I love that website, it's like the one for folding sweaters or tying ties. Who'da thunk it?
    Sophmoric Existentialist

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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    Shoelace update: I tied my shoelaces the freaky way WhyNot shared with us during my run this morning, and they held completely secure! It was awesome, those things are often coming undone, and I hate double-knotting them because it makes it hard to get my shoes off afterwards. So thanks, WhyNot!

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    Oliphaunt
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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    Quote Originally posted by Excalibre
    Shoelace update: I tied my shoelaces the freaky way WhyNot shared with us during my run this morning, and they held completely secure! It was awesome, those things are often coming undone, and I hate double-knotting them because it makes it hard to get my shoes off afterwards. So thanks, WhyNot!
    You're very welcome! I have great tips for storing sheets and portioning baby food, too, if you ever need those.
    Whatever became of the moment when one first knew about death? There must have been one. A moment. In childhood. When it first occurred to you that you don't go on forever. Must have been shattering. Stamped into one's memory. And yet, I can't remember it.

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    Libertarian Autocrat Vox Imperatoris's avatar
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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    Just a related question that I thought I'd ask: do you all tie and untie your shoes every time you put them on and take them off, or do you slip your feet out of the shoes and back in without untieing?

    I always tie mine in a double-knot and just slip in and out of them, only tieing them when they come undone.
    Nec audiendi qui solent dicere, vox populi, vox Dei, quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit.
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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    Yes, I never untie my shoes. I just slip them on and off.

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    Oliphaunt
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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    I can often slip them off without untying, but my ridiculously high arch prohibits me putting them back on again unless I untie them first.
    Whatever became of the moment when one first knew about death? There must have been one. A moment. In childhood. When it first occurred to you that you don't go on forever. Must have been shattering. Stamped into one's memory. And yet, I can't remember it.

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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    Oh good, it's not just me. My son (who's 8) keeps asking me why my shoelaces keep getting untied. I told him that I though they must be making laces out of different material than they used when I was little.

  15. #15
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    Quote Originally posted by Excalibre
    Shoelace update: I tied my shoelaces the freaky way WhyNot shared with us during my run this morning, and they held completely secure! It was awesome, those things are often coming undone, and I hate double-knotting them because it makes it hard to get my shoes off afterwards. So thanks, WhyNot!
    Hell, I tied them that way for my rugby game this weekend. First time since I started playing that my laces stayed put without taping them.

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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    I am a big fan of Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot, given that it is only one additional loop through to what I have always done. However, I will add a caveat - be careful when undoing the lace. If the free tail has slipped into the contracting loop while you are undoing the knot, you may have a bit of trouble undoing the resultant mess. You have to loosen the contracted loop and extract the trapped tail.

    Si

  17. #17
    Stegodon EddyTeddyFreddy's avatar
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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    Good grief. Ian's knot works like a charm, even on round slippery gotta-double-tie-'em laces. Wicked cool!
    "Dude, your statistical average, which was already in the toilet, just took a plunge into the Earth's mantle." ~ iampunha

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    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    There are testimonials for Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot.

    I'm going to try it on my sneakers when I get home. Although a double knot works pretty well for me since I never untie them.

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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    Quote Originally posted by WhyNot
    I think (no cite) there are more cheap polyester or poly blend shoe laces being sold with the shoes, and those are slick and don't hold a knot as well for me. They still sell the plain ol' cotton ones, though, you just have to buy them in addition to your shoes.

    I'm sure it won't surprise you that there's an excellent website out there devoted to the art and science of tying your shoelaces. My favorite knot there for slippery and/or round laces is Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot. It looks tricky, but practice a few times with a shoe in your lap (not on your foot) and you'll get it in 10 minutes, I guarantee it. Once you get it, it's just as fast as the bunny ears or the "around the tree and down the hole" methods.
    haha, I'm learning to tie my shoelaces again!

  20. #20
    Libertarian Autocrat Vox Imperatoris's avatar
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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    Okay, I've tied my shoes with the Secure Knot. I'll see how it holds up.
    Nec audiendi qui solent dicere, vox populi, vox Dei, quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit.
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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    I learned that method years ago! I don't remember where. I THINK I still use it, but I'm not sure. [Goes and checks shoe that was kicked off without untying.] Nope, looks like in the absence of slippery laces I've reverted back to the regular knot. Anyway, it does work great.

    At one point I also learned another method that was slightly quicker than a regular knot and almost as secure. I did that for a while, too.

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    Default Re: Have they changed shoe laces (probably stupid)

    Ian's Knot is basically a square knot, which probably explains its strength. I'll have to give it a try sometime (if I can do it -- hell, I was six before I got the hang of the standard knot). Looks like it might help with another common problem with shoe laces these days: they're too damned long!

  23. #23
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    I never saw this thread first time around. (Thank you Rube for the link.) I've been using something I was taught around 20 years ago called a sailor's knot. It is pretty simple. When making the standard bow, I wrap two loops around my thumb before pulling the final slip loop between and get the same basic and excellent results as the Ian's secure Knot. In the end they work exactly the same, a double hitch is far more secure than a single hitch.

    It is still easy to untie when needed but seems to never come undone on its own.

  24. #24
    Oliphaunt Rube E. Tewesday's avatar
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    And for those who want lace shoes, but don't want to tie their shoelaces, I give you this:

    http://www.quicksnap.ca/

    My wife bought some for our knot-challenged kid, and they're great.

  25. #25
    Yes, I'm a cat. What's it to you? Muffin's avatar
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    Round rather than rectangular laces, poly or nylon rather than cotton blend laces, and thick loosely woven laces rather than thin tightly woven laces, lead to shoelace knots coming undone.

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    Administrator CatInASuit's avatar
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    I don't have a problem with my laces untying. I always have a problem with the breaking after a couple of months or so.
    In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.

  27. #27
    Prehistoric Bitchslapper Sarahfeena's avatar
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    Round laces are the worst. They put those on kids' shoes a lot, for reasons that are a mystery to me.

  28. #28
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    I didn't know that was called a sailor's knot, Jim! I've been doing that for years. A friend of mine showed it to me when I got irritated because every time I went hiking my laces would come undone. Something about the laces getting damp just made every other knot come right out.
    So now they are just dirt-covered English people in fur pelts with credit cards.

  29. #29
    Porosity Caster parzival's avatar
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    How do you tighten that Quicksnap thing? It sort of looks like one side might have a ratcheting mechanism - is that how it goes?

    Someone once gave me a device that I think is supposed to replace tying shoelace knots, but i've never bothered to try it out (it appears to only work well with the right sized laces, of which I only have one). It looks sort of like a block/pulley or a zipper that allows you to pull the laces through to make them tighter (a latch releases the tension). But it seems to rely mainly on friction by separating the lines at the outlet. That would probably work but less so as the laces get older and smoother, it seems to me.

    If anyone knows what I'm talking about or has used one, I'm curious to know how well such a thing works. I still don't know if I'd use it, since it doesn't solve the problem of where to put the excess shoelace length as they stretch out. That's what I tend to run into.

  30. #30
    Oliphaunt Rube E. Tewesday's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by parzival View post
    How do you tighten that Quicksnap thing? It sort of looks like one side might have a ratcheting mechanism - is that how it goes?

    .
    As far as I can see, there's no particular tightening mechanism -- you just get the laces as tight as you like them when you're tying them into the Quicksnap, and from there on you just snap the two ends together.

    I will say, I might have been hasty in saying they "work great". My kid most just seems to slip on the shoes like loafer, and not snap the ends together -- but at least he's not tripping over his shoelaces any more.

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