Long laces are very what to do. How to properly lace up shoes. What you need to shorten the laces

Properly selected shoes can make the image complete, stylish and give it individuality. At the same time, many types of shoes have fixing elements.

The most common fixing element is laces. Despite the fact that they take up very little space, the laces are the first to catch the eye, as they are located in the front of the shoe.

Buying shoes with too long laces is a common situation. In this case, they not only spoil the entire appearance. Very often, the owners of shoes step on them, which can lead to injury. Therefore, overly long fittings must be shortened.

What you need to shorten the laces

To make them shorter, you can simply cut off the fittings, and singe the ends with a lighter. But it will not look aesthetically pleasing, and the shoes will lose their presentable appearance.

Therefore, more careful methods should be used. For this you will need:

cocktail straw. Ideal - heat shrink tubing;
matches or lighter. A building hair dryer is also suitable;
scissors;
polyurethane adhesive;
felt-tip pen;
scotch.

Popular ways

Before proceeding with the shortening of the fixing element, it is necessary to measure the desired length:

shoes should be put on and fixed so that the leg is as comfortable as possible;
accessories need to be marked. You can do this using a marker. They need to draw lines at both ends of the retainer, marking the length that needs to be cut.

After that, choose the most convenient option shortening.

Simplest

The option is suitable for ordinary shoelaces. They are found in sneakers and sneakers. You will need duct tape or tape for this. With this method, the ends of the fittings must be tightly wrapped with adhesive tape.

"Beautiful" way

This is the most accurate option. It requires scissors, straws and a lighter.

laces must be cut according to the applied markings;
from the straw you need to make tips. Cut off two pieces about 2 cm long;
the ends of the fittings should be threaded into tubes;
using a lighter or a match, pieces of straw need to be heated. This must be done carefully so as not to spoil anything;
when the plastic tips have cooled, the finished fittings can be threaded back.

Important! The ends of the laces can be additionally treated with polyurethane glue. This will protect them from moisture.

"Sticky Fingers"

For this option, you will also need glue. At the same time, superglue will not work, as it will quickly glue fingers together. Apply a small amount of glue to the ends of the fittings, and then give them a conical shape.

To give the product the required length is quite simple. In addition to these methods, you can learn how to fix them beautifully. Some methods also make them shorter. If there is no time for shortening, then you can buy new fittings of the desired length.

These shoes are mainly made of leather, but there are also suede and textile options. The height of the soles of topsiders can be very thin, or vice versa, thick enough.

Topsiders differ from other shoes with a white sole, an obligatory lace in the upper, edge part around the entire circumference. The number of holes for the lace depends on the designer's idea, there may be only 2 on each shoe, or maybe 6 pieces.

It is the lace that distinguishes topsiders from classic moccasins. To tie shoelaces on topsiders, you need to have a certain skill. Watch the video instruction and you will definitely learn how to do it. Unfortunately, all videos are in English. Apparently, in our country, these shoes have not found such a wide demand.

Lace up and trim

If the laces are getting tired of you and get in the way, there are several ways to hide them inside by cutting and tying.

Knot-bump

Incredibly cute and trendy tie shoelaces on topsiders so that they do not interfere with their owner.

Slowly

How to tie topsiders: a simple bow

The classic and easiest way tie topsiders hastily . But such bows are good because they are not untied at the most inopportune moment.

Option 1:

Option 2:

Fishtail lacing

A difficult, but original way to tie topsiders.

Video on how to change the lace in the topsiders as a whole, including the edge

Tired of the colors or the laces on your favorite topsiders are pretty worn out? It doesn't matter - we will change the whole thing!

Knitting method

Sometimes the laces are too long. As a result, they dangle ugly, and you step on them. The solution is to buy new, shorter ones. But if you need to shorten the laces this very minute, then save yourself in the ways described below.

Shortening the laces is as easy as shelling pears - take and cut off with scissors. It is more difficult to do it carefully so that it is beautiful. But nothing is impossible in this life. Especially one that would concern such an earthly thing as shoelaces.

The easiest way

Works with ordinary laces (most often found in sneakers. Its essence: tightly wrap the end with transparent tape.

"Sticky Fingers"

Another option is to saturate the end of the lace with glue (but not superglue - your fingers will just stick together). Then give this tip a pointed shape.

The most beautiful option

Most beautiful option- use thin metal tubes. They can be found in radio parts stores or flea markets. After sawing off the tube of the desired length, insert a string into it, and pour glue inside, or make small dents with a nail. The result will be different from the factory, but still. Another option is not to pour glue and make holes with a nail, but to burn the pipe. See how it's done:

How to shorten the lace

Each of us knows how to properly tie shoelaces on sneakers from childhood. But it often turns out that the reliability of the node is not as high as we would like. The laces are untied every now and then, especially during training or active sports. Stepping on the dangling end of the lace is not a pleasant event. Therefore, it will be useful for sports and outdoor enthusiasts to learn several reliable ways to lace shoes.

Before moving on to lacing methods, let's look at the root of the problem. Why are shoe laces often unreliable? Even a tightly tied knot can spontaneously untie., leaving behind a light train of surprise. The reason may be the laces themselves, incorrect knots, carelessness of the wearer and many other factors.

The most common reasons for untying knots are:

Laces are made of silk or coated with wax ("waxed"). Such laces are quite slippery, and therefore most popular knots are simply unreliable.
The so-called "grandmother's bow" is used. It is this knot that is familiar to each of us from early childhood. Unfortunately, this is the most unreliable way of lacing shoes.
hard frost. During frost, the laces can lose elasticity, become noticeably harder. This will make them more slippery as well. As a consequence, the knot can untie on its own.
Too short or, conversely, too long laces . There is a whole system about how long the laces need for a particular number of holes. A shoelace of the wrong size runs the risk of untying itself, even if the knot is made correctly and skillfully.

Important! Laces that slip or dangle freely in holes are best left untouched. Just replace them with new high-quality laces, preferably made of cotton. After that, you can begin to study the types of lacing.

How to lace up your running shoes?

To understand how to lace up the laces on sneakers, you can experiment. Through trial and error, you will quickly find the best option. But if you are reluctant to spend time on an independent search for a solution, we bring to your attention information verified by millions of sports shoe wearers!

Basic lacing methods

"Grandma's bow", as the easiest way to lacing, is known to everyone. But him popularity is not evidence of effectiveness. Such knots are untied much more often than most others. Consider a few basic ways of lacing sneakers and sneakers.

The way of the Australian Ian Figen It turned out to be so simple and reliable that it brought its creator a lot of money. Ayan now has a popular website dedicated to lacing techniques. As you can see in the figure, the essence of the method is to before creating a characteristic “bow”, insert the loops one into the other, and not just bandage, as in the traditional unreliable way. However, it does not make sense to describe the Figen method: it is better to learn from the image. It, by the way, is taken from Ayan's website, like the rest of the images in this article.

Rice. 1. Ayan Figen's method

If you do not trust an unfamiliar Australian in matters of how to insert shoelaces into sneakers, here is another good way. Many people rightly consider it the perfect combination of simplicity and reliability. It can be described as " double bow”, and it is called sliding because after tying, there is free space. That is what makes the node reliable. If you pull it tight, it will untie pretty quickly. As you can see from the image, making such a knot is not at all difficult!

Rice. 2. Double slip knot

Finally, we offer another popular method. This surgeon's knot, otherwise known as the "Sherpa knot". It is very difficult to complete it - even the image shows as many as 8 steps instead of 6. This method is the most difficult, but lacing the sneakers according to the photo will allow you to master it quickly enough. Enough to learn correctly wrap one loop around the other, and everything else will be a matter of technology. Believe me, it's worth it!

Rice. 3. Surgeon's knot, or "Sherpa's knot"

If the method that you know is not among those listed above, this does not make it bad. There are many unpopular, but also effective types of lacing sports shoes. Look for the one you like the most.

Tricks when creating a node

To create a great knot, sometimes it is not enough to know some effective lacing technique. The laces can be slippery and therefore require additional “insurance” means. In addition, stress during exercise increases the risk of decoupling when compared to normal walking. So what are the tricks protect the laces from spontaneous untying?

The main "insurance" means are as follows:

Hide the ends of your laces. We will consider this issue in more detail at the end of the article. In the meantime, let's say that you need to hide even short tips, and not just unnecessarily long ones.
Pay attention not only to the knot, but also to the lacing. The more often the ends of the lace will cross and intertwine during the lacing process, the less likely it is that the sneaker will "loose" and thereby weaken the knot.
Experiment with knot strength. If the laces are untied, try tightening the knot more or, conversely, loosening the knot. Sometimes this is the most effective solution to a problem.
Check the knot immediately before starting a workout. During the time that you walk from home to the place of training, the knot may loosen a little, and tightening it before starting classes is the right decision.

How to lace up sneakers for kids?

Surely you have noticed that some lacing methods are quite complicated. The child will most likely not cope with them.. But at school, physical education lessons regularly take place, and the children themselves are forced to change their shoes into sports shoes, tying their shoelaces on their own. Bumps and bruises resulting from laces untied during physical education are by no means uncommon.

What should a child do with naughty shoelaces? There are some general recommendations:

Do not teach your child difficult knots. The best intentions of parents are understandable, but if the child cannot properly master the chosen type of lacing, then the knot will be made incorrectly and risk being untied. The best option is the "golden mean" between the simplicity and reliability of the node.
Buy cotton shoelaces for your child. They provide the best grip and do not slip, so the risk of unraveling is quite small. With waxed or silk laces, things are much more complicated.
Take care of the optimal length. Children's sneakers often use unreliable slippery laces, but their length is always optimal. Therefore, new cotton laces should be chosen in the same size as the original ones.

Not the last role is played by the children's shoes themselves. If the sneakers are very loose, then they are unlikely to be suitable for physical education lessons, even despite the reliable and well-made knot.

Visual video instruction for tying running shoes

What to do with the ends of the laces?

We have already talked a lot about how to properly lace up sneakers. But even if the knot is done correctly, due to the imperfect length of the laces, the laces often remain too long ends. You also need to do something with them, because during training they can catch on something or get under the sole.

The basic solution to the problem of long laces is the correct use of the top eyelet. It is necessary to lace the sneakers so that the lace goes inside the top hole, and does not come out. This will allow you to conveniently hide the free edges inside the sneaker - either between the tongue and the walls of the shoe, or between the walls of the shoe and the foot.

If the previous advice was not enough, then there are other tricks:

you can make a knot not from above, but under the tongue (suitable only for loose shoes, otherwise it crushes the foot);
you can tie a "bow" not in the center, but on the side, and then fill both ends on one side;
if the laces are too long, you can tie them around the lower leg (suitable when wearing trousers and jeans);
you can buy lace anchors - small plastic accessories designed specifically for "cleaning" the loose edges of the laces.

Conclusion

So, now you know that lacing sneakers is practically an art! It remains only to master it and teach your child - if, of course, you have one. Even though the untethering of shoelaces is not a serious problem, it is precisely the elimination of such minor flaws that helps to significantly improve the quality of life. Spending less time, energy and nerves on trifles, you can fully devote yourself to truly serious things.

NOTE

WikiHow carefully monitors the work of editors to ensure that each article is in line with our high standards quality.

Have you ever had to buy new shoes and discover that the laces are too long? You can not only step on them and ruin your shoes, but also trip over the laces and injure yourself. But that doesn't mean you have to go out and buy a new pair of laces. With a few common household items, you can easily shorten your shoelaces and forget what it's like to trip over long shoelaces.

Steps

Part 1

Measuring and cutting laces

Put on your shoes. You can determine how much length you need to cut off by eye, but it’s better to put on shoes and see how much extra length is on each side. Lace your shoes as comfortably as possible and pay attention to the length of the laces to decide how much to cut off.

When deciding how long to cut your laces, also think about how you prefer to tie your laces. If you don't want to tie your shoelaces double knot, tie in the usual way and figure out how much to cut off on each side.

Mark the laces. You will need to know the exact location of the cut, and marking the correct location will help with that. With a felt-tip pen, draw lines at each end and mark the length you want to get rid of.
- It is possible to leave the shoes on when marking the laces, but it is usually easier to put on the shoes and measure the length that needs to be removed on each side with a ruler. And then you need to pull out the laces and put a mark.
- Shoelaces come in standard sizes such as 75 cm, 100 cm or 140 cm. So in the future you will know where to put a mark on the same laces.
Cut your laces. They are usually easy to cut, and any household scissors will do. However, make sure that they are sharp so that when cutting off, the tips are as little "frayed" as possible. Cut according to your marks so as not to make a mistake with the cut length.
- Don't cut off any excess length on just one side of the lace. You will end up with one finished and one raw edge that will look weird when you lace up your shoes.
Try cutting off the excess from the middle of the lace. Instead of cutting the laces from the edge and then finishing the ends, you can get rid of the excess length in the middle: you get two parts, each of which has an aglet on one side. You just need to fasten these halves together.
- Try on shoes; using a ruler, determine how much length is excessive on each side of the lace, add up these numbers and cut the resulting length from the middle of the lace.
- Tie the parts of the lace together as tightly as possible, fix the knot with a little instant glue and let it dry. If extra pieces of lace stick out of the knot, cut them off. You can also sew the two halves of the lace together.
Part 2
Attaching the ends of the laces
1. Wrap the ends with tape. Lay the tape on a flat surface with the sticky side up and place the string in the middle. Wrap a piece of duct tape tightly and carefully around the end of the cord to form a strong cap called an aglet. If the tips stick out after the aglet, cut them off with scissors.
  - For more strength of the aglet, you can put a few drops of glue on the end of the tape and then wrap it around the lace.
  - The tape ends are like aglets on finished laces, so you can trim off any excess length from just one end of the lace if you prefer.
2. Apply glue to the ends. Apply a drop of glue to the very tip of the laces, and when the glue begins to dry, squeeze it so that the lace absorbs the glue better and becomes thinner. When the glue is completely dry, you can cut off the excess and apply another thin layer of glue to improve the strength of the aglet and give it a neater look.
  - Do not use an instant adhesive such as Super Moment as it will stick to your skin and the end of the lace cannot be formed.
  - Acetone-based glue is best: "Moment-crystal" or similar. This glue is waterproof and becomes transparent when dry, so it can be used to make the perfect aglet.
  - If you don't have glue on hand, you can use clear nail polish instead.
3. Use heat shrink tubing. Typically, such tubes are used to insulate electrical wires. But they are also quite strong and flexible to make an aglet. It is necessary to cut off the length that fits the standard aglet; usually it is about 1.3 cm. Put a tube on each end of the cord and heat them with a tribal candle, lighter or other source of flame so that the material of the tube shrinks.
  - Choose a diameter of the tube so that you can thread a lace into it. In most cases, 4-5 mm will do.
  - When you thread the end of the lace into the tube, do it in a twisting motion so as not to fray the loose end of the lace.
  - It doesn't take much heat to start shrinking the tube, so keep it a good distance from the flame source. If the pipe begins to smoke or bubble, the temperature is too high.
  - If you have a mini hair straightener, you can use it to heat the heat shrink safely. Gently pinch the tube with an iron for 5-10 seconds so that it begins to contract and form an aglet.
  - Transparent heat shrink tubing will most closely resemble a factory aglet.
4. Melt the ends. If the laces are made of synthetic material, then they can simply be melted to get a smooth, neat tip. Hold the end of the string over a candle, match, lighter or other flame source long enough to get a sealed edge.
  - Don't hold the string too close to the flame, or you could set it on fire completely. It is best to do this over the sink, in case of a possible flame.
  - Do not touch the synthetic material when it starts to melt because it may stick to your skin.
Part 3
We lace up shoes
1. Start with the bottom eyelets. When threading shoelaces, always start with the holes closest to the toe. In this way, the lace can be tightened in two opposite holes to create the most comfortable fit. Thread the ends of the laces through the holes and pull them out so that the ends are of equal length on both sides.
  - Regardless of which method you choose to secure the ends of your laces, the key is to give your aglets enough time to dry and cool before lacing your shoes.
  - Many pairs of shoes have two rows of parallel eyelets, one row closer to the tongue and one row further back. If you have a wide foot, use the eyelets closer to the tongue to give your foot more space. For narrow feet, lace up through the eyelets away from the tongue for a snug fit.
2. Lace up your shoes in a zigzag pattern. There are many different ways to lace up shoes, but zigzag lacing works great for most people. After threading the laces through the bottom holes, cross the ends of the laces: thread the right end into the next hole on the left, and the left end into the right. Continue to cross over the ends before each hole to the last row.
3. If you are afraid of burning your fingers when you "solder" the ends of the shoelaces, put on gardening gloves or something similar: in them, hand movements will be quite precise in order to form the tips safely. They will also keep your hands safe if you use aglet glue.
- Always keep a fire extinguisher handy if you are using a flame to "solder" the ends of your shortened laces. Flames can get out of control very easily and quickly.

Lace-up shoes, whether it be sneakers or boots, look stylish and original. But what if the laces are too long? Someone will advise you to simply cut them to the desired length, but this will not solve the problem: soon the tips will begin to fray, and the shoes will lose their presentable appearance. Of course, you can try to carefully process the edges with fire, but this does not always look aesthetically pleasing. Below is a method that allows you to competently shorten long shoelaces.

To get started, prepare:

straw ( cocktail tube), and preferably a heat shrink tube;
scissors;
a lighter, matches or a building hair dryer;

The process looks like this:

We cut the laces. Try to accurately calculate to what length they should be shortened. In the event that you cut off more than necessary, the only thing left to do is to throw away the laces: it will not be possible to return the former length.
We make tips. To do this, cut the straw into two small pieces about two centimeters long.
We insert the lace into the tube in a circular motion.
We take a lighter and heat the tube, as a result of which it will begin to tighten. Try not to bring the flame too close, so as not to spoil the material.
After the tips have cooled, the laces can be safely threaded into the shoes.

If desired, the ends can be dripped with polyurethane glue. The tips treated in this way will not fly off either during rain or during active pastime.

In general, this procedure is quick and easy. In most cases, you will succeed the first time. However, if you are not confident in your own abilities, it’s not worth the risk: practice on unnecessary material before starting the “finishing” work.

The tips created according to the instructions described above practically do not differ from the standard ones. The only thing is that they can be worse for threading into holes. But, given that the laces are not taken out so often, this is not a serious problem.

I also suggest you watch the video

The easiest way

Works with ordinary laces (most often found in sneakers. Its essence: tightly wrap the end with transparent tape.

"Sticky Fingers"

Another option is to soak the end of the lace with glue (but not superglue - your fingers will just stick together). Then give this tip a pointed shape.

The most beautiful option

The most beautiful option is to use thin metal tubes. They can be found in radio parts stores or flea markets. After sawing off the tube of the desired length, insert a string into it, and pour glue inside, or make small dents with a nail. The result will be different from the factory, but still. Another option is not to pour glue and make holes with a nail, but to burn the pipe. Watch how it's done.