How to Lace Shoes

Anyone who has had recurrent falls during sports, and wonder what is wrong with their shoes might not be looking at the situation in the correct light. It might not be the shoes at all that causes the fall. The culprit might be the technique with which they have laced their shoes. Then the question arises - how to lace shoes? So also people who are simply bored of the way their shoelaces look find themselves asking the question how to lace shoes differently? This article concerns you. Most of us learn how to lace shoes when we are very young; but with the advent of Velcro shoes or simply because of appearances or to suit one's personality, more and more people want to know how to tie shoelaces fashionably. We intend to help you do just that.

How to Lace Your Shoes

This is probably the most simplest and hassle-free way to lace shoes:

1. Take a shoe, point the foot away from you so that the heel is facing you.
2. Take the lace and put both ends of the lace into the shoe from the topmost alternate holes.
3. After putting these laces in, the length of the ends that come out should be the same.
4. Then starting from the right side, take the right lace, and from inside the shoe (the lace comes out, does not go in) put it in the hole that is diagonally next on the left hand side.
5. Similarly, take the left side lace and after placing it underneath bring it out from the right side hole that is diagonally next.
6. Continue to do this until all the holes are completed and two ends of the lace remain to be knotted.
7. If the length of the lace ends is not the same then adjust the length of the lace by loosening it and adjusting it. Having an equal length makes it easier to tie the laces.

Other than this simple method there are others ways to lace shoes.

CrissCross Lacing

1. Start from the heel of the shoe and from inside (the shoe) place the laces so that the ends of both emerge from the top (as opposed to going into the shoe).
2. Then take both the ends and cross them over.
3. Then put them into the shoe and let them emerge again from the second pair of holes.
4. Continue this until it goes through all the holes, alternating with emerging and going in at every alternate hole.

Double Helix Lacing

1. Take a lace and place one end into the shoe hole (so that it goes in) and then let the other end emerge from the hole.
2. Take the lace that emerges, cross it over diagonally and place it into the shoe hole which is the immediate diagonal next.
3. Take the lace that was put into the shoe hole right at the bottom and from under the shoe, cross it over so that it emerges from the opposite side.
4. Continue to do this till both ends come out from the top most holes.
5. The trick is that you change the direction of the two ends every time they emerge or go in. This is done so that the lace that had emerged will cross over and go in next. And the lace that had gone in, will cross over and come out.

Bow Tie Lacing

1. Take the lace and put both the ends into the bottom set of holes.
2. Then carry them up into the next hole in a straight line and bring it up.
3. Once they are brought up, cross them over and put them in from the opposite side.
4. Now run them straight on the underside and bring them out from the next set of holes.
5. Once they are out cross them over and place them in the next set of holes on the opposite side.
6. Continue this until the holes are exhausted and the end of the laces remain to be tied.

How to Lace Shoes With Two Color Laces

Having shoes with two colored laces is a great way to increase the 'cool quotient' of your shoes. It looks different and lends a very stylish effect as well.

1. On answering how to lace shoes with 2 laces, take two laces of different colors (For e.g., red and orange) and cut them into half (if the length of both the colored laces is 1 foot, cut it to half feet.).
2. Tie both colored shoelaces together.
3. Place this knot into the shoe at the bottom and bring up the ends from the last set of holes.
4. Then treat it like any other method mentioned above, like crisscross lacing or bow tie lacing and continue to knot the shoe laces until both ends emerge from the top most hole.

How to Lace Shoes for Running

1. Take the shoelaces and bring them out from under the shoe hole that is towards the bottom end (near the heel).
2. Now that it is out, put it back through the same hole that it came out from, but keep a small loop while doing this.
3. Now take the opposite side of the shoe lace and put it through the loop so that it becomes extra tight.
4. Do the same to the opposite side.
5. Every time a loop is left, fill it with the lace from the opposite side and then create a loop of the same when it goes to the other side.
6. Continue doing this till both ends are reached and can be tied.
7. This is also another method that can be employed to tie the shoelaces horizontally.

Follow these simple methods on how to lace shoes and bring some much-needed changes in the same old dull looking shoes. Along with reinventing the way the shoes look, they also help in employing the correct way to tie shoe laces so that there are no injuries in the future.