Learning to tie shoelaces perfect and keeping the shoelaces in place can be a daunting task. However, you just have to master some basic skills and then you won't be facing any difficulty. There are certain things which must always be kept in mind while you make a knot. Some of these tips are given below.
1. Avoiding end lengths shifting
Quite often we observe the problem of shifting of the shoe laces such that one end of it gradually gets longer than the other. There are a number solutions to this particular problem. The first thing that we'd like to tell you is that this problem mostly occurs with non-symmetrical lacing methods like shoe shop lacing or standard shoe lace knot, therefore, preferring symmetrical lacing methods like criss cross lacing or lan knot over the non-symmetrical ones is perhaps one of the best way to avoid end length shifting. You must also make sure that all the eyelets are of same diameter. You can use reamer, leather punch or a sharp drill bit to enlarge the holes which are simply punched in the leather. Tie a permanent knot in the middle of the section before lacing the shoe, this knot will halt any shift from reaching the eyelet on the other side.
2. Making the shoe laces last longer
More complex is the knot, greater are the chances of wear and tear on your shoe laces. The best thing that you can do is to try out those shoe lacing method which are simple and require fewer steps. Also, the wear and tear increases when the knot comes undone more easily because of the frequent re-tying, this happens mostly with the unbalanced knots, so, they must be avoided. You must pull the laces outwards rather than pulling them upwards, while tightening the knot, this way the friction against the top eyelets get reduced. Pull the laces evenly and firmly and don't tug quickly on the lace ends.
3. Tie a comfortable knot
The shoe laces which are hard and round creates a number of pressure points on your feet making it uneasy for you. To prevent yourself from getting into such situations, replace your shoe laces with flat ones as they minimize the pressure points. Besides these flat shoe laces, there are several shoe lacing methods which can help you out. For instance, the criss cross lacing not only avoids end lengths shifting, but also it minimizes the pressure points. The straight bar lacing reduces the pressure of the shoe laces on the upper ridge of the foot, whereas the army lacing allows the sides of boots to flex more easily.
4. Handling excessively short shoe laces
If your shoe laces are excessively short, then the obvious solution is to replace them with the laces of correct length. However, if you are in a hurry and don't have the time to manage a new pair of laces, then also you don't have to worry because there are some great emergency measures which can help you out. Adopt a different lacing pattern which uses less space like the bow tie lacing or the army lacing. If the lace ends are really short, then you can even skip the bottom pair of eyelets or even more, this way you can save a considerable length of the lace. You can also go for knots which don't have loops and drawstrings, like the reef knot, thus saving the length which would have been wasted otherwise.
5. Handling excessively long shoe laces
Handling longer shoe laces is much more easy than handling the shorter ones. Tie two or more successive knots in order to use the excess length of the shoe laces or you can even try some other methods which use more lace and effectively shorten the ends, such as lattice lacing, ladder lacing and spider web lacing. A triple pass is another alternative for dealing with long shoe laces, you have to feed the shoe laces a second time through the opposite eyelets of the bottom portion and lace the remainder of the shoe normally. However, if the shoe laces are way too long, then you have to go for some method which is more permanent in nature. For instance, cut out a section from the laces and re-join the two ends suing a simple reef knot, or use a glue in case of flat laces. You can even cut off the ends, thus shortening them to the correct length. This way you don't have to join the laces in the middle, just replace the aglets.
6. Preventing shoe laces coming undone
Learn to tie a more secure knot as the unbalanced knot come undone much more easily. However, one thing that you must always keep in mind is that no matter which type of knot you tie, you mus always finish it off by pulling the knot nice and tight. Also, you must avoid shoelaces made of slippery synthetic materials or you can even roughen them up with some coarse sandpaper. You also have to make sure that the shoe laces are not too long, as the ends will become more likely to be stepped on or snagged.
7. Avoiding shoe tongues slipping sideways
One problem that is very common in shoes, especially the ones having flat tongues is that these tongues tend to slip toward the outside of the foot as they don't fit with the curvature of the top part of the foot. There are some methods which can minimize the sideways slipping of the shoelaces. Straight lacing methods don't hold the tongue horizontally, so, you must avoid such methods and in place of them opt for methods that runs the laces through the loop at a steeper angle.
8. Preventing them in icy conditions
Cold can cause the icing up of the laces making them stiff as wire. To prevent such thing from happening, soak your laces in a waterproofing solution and then wipe off the excess solution out of it. They will have a slightly waxy feel even when they have dried up, but still it will hold a knot properly, also this will prevent the laces from becoming stiff.
