Shoe Laces Nike, Addidas, and More

Shoelaces – the secret weapon of street fashion

People usually learn to tie their Nike shoelaces at the age of 4. Tying the shoelaces represents a special milestone in children’s life, one of those moments of independence, when they learn a way to take care of themselves. During childhood, shoelaces serve a purpose of keeping the shoes on our feet. As we grow older, shoes get a new meaning; they are now an accessory, an asset we use to show our style. And with the new meaning of shoes, laces serve for new purpose as well.

Several years ago, knitting shoelaces was the latest trend in fashion. Especially popular with teenagers, even older and more serious people embraced the trend. Everyone started making their own custom rope shoelaces. Colors, techniques, styles varied from one individual to another. Custom rope shoelaces served their purpose, they helped people individualize their style, and in the same time, emphasize their talent and creativity. In order to make custom rope shoelaces, people used four different same length laces, and knitted them together. As a result, teenagers and young rebels created rainbow custom rope shoelaces, or sometimes reggae style laces.

Nowadays, custom rope shoe laces are present in the street fashion, mostly between hip-hoppers, some anarchists, and generally young adults who want to express their style and creativity.

One thing is certain, custom rope shoelaces are an excellent way to add style, or accessorize the overall outfit. They can be in different colors, or in one color. Options are a plenty, as long as people want to put some effort into polishing their shoes. Custom rope shoelaces are usually made from polyester, nylon and rarely some other material. They can vary in length and width.

With a mathematic formula, scientists have calculated more than 2 trillion ways to tie custom rope shoelaces. In the ocean of possibilities, let’s single out some of the most common and popular.
The Criss-Cross method is one of the most common for lacing. Starting from the bottom, where they are straight, laces are tied at each eyelet, crossing the ends and feeding under the sides.
Next common method is Over-under, used to ease and loosen up the wear and tear on the shoe and the feet itself. Depending of the number of eyelet pairs, lacing starts straight across on the outside (even) or on the inside (odd). Lacing alternates between crossing over (outside) and in on the next eyelet, or vice versa.

When people want to show their shoes, and not their laces, a combination of Criss-cross and Over-Under is used. Lacing starts across on the outside, and continues crossing the ends feeding in the next set of eyelets.

It is important to keep lacing loosen up, as too tight laced shoes can cause pain in the feet. This is due to the pressure they cause on the feet. It is often recommended to change lacing way from time to time.