Learning how to tie your shoelaces is a rite of passage that you should have mastered at age 5. Tying your shoelaces the right way ensures that they don’t come off or loosen as you walk, preventing you from tripping and falling. It is, of course, also essential to tie your shoelaces right for aesthetic reasons.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to tying your shoelaces since one method may be preferred over another depending on the shoe you are wearing. Here is a practical step-by-step guide to help you tie your shoelaces in the best ways possible.
Tying A Basic Knot
- Put the shoes on a flat surface, ensuring that the laces fall to either side.
- Tie a basic knot by taking both laces, threading one over the other, and pulling them tight. Your laces should form a knot at the center of the shoe.
- Create a loop with one of the shoelaces by holding it between your thumb, forefinger, and middle finger.
- Then, wrap the second shoelace around the loop with your other hand. You should hold this lace over your fingers and around the loop. Then, wrap the other lace towards you instead of away from you.
- Get the shoelace through the hole to create another loop. You can do this by simply using your free hand to push the shoelace through. A hole should be between the wrapped shoelace and the looped shoelace. You should pull the wrapped shoelace through the lopped one, so it passes through this hole.
- Then, take the two loops and pull them tight to have a neatly tied shoe.
The Double Slip Knot Method
The double slip-knot method, also known as Ian’s Secure Shoelace Knot, is a straightforward, symmetrical approach to tying laces. It can reportedly withstand up to thrice the tension of regular knots and is one of the best ways to tie Tods shoes. To tie your shoelaces using the double slip knot method:
- Begin with a standard left-over-right starting knot.
- Turn both ends into loops by doubling them back onto themselves (bunny ears)
- Cross the right loop over the left one so that it comes in front and becomes the left loop.
- The first left loop is now the right one, and begin to wrap it around the left loop, so it comes in front. At this point, the knot created is basically the two-loop shoelace knot.
- Then, simultaneously start wrapping the left loop around the back. You will see the ends of the two loops on opposite sides of the hole created in the middle.
- Now, pass both ends of the loop through the middle hole. The left loop should come out in front, while the right loop should come out behind.
- Lastly, simply pull both loops to tighten the knots. The pulling action will rearrange the twisted mess of the above-listed steps into a tight and neat knot.
The Bunny-Ears Method
The bunny ears method is perhaps the most common approach to tying laces. Many parents teach their children to tie laces this way because it is simple and easy to recollect. To tie your shoelaces the bunny ears way:
- Put the shoes on a flat surface and allow the laces to drop to either side.
- Tie a basic knot by taking both laces, threading one over the other, and pulling them tight. The laces should form a knot in the center of the shoe.
- Create a “bunny” ear loop with one shoelace. You should be holding this lace between your thumb, forefinger, and middle finger. This loop must be tiny, but the “tail” should be long.
- Then, create a bunny ear loop with the free lace. Again, you should be holding the lace between your thumb and the next two fingers. Also, the tail must be long and the loop tiny.
- You can now tie a basic knot with the created bunny ear loops. For this, place one loop over the other, then push it behind and thread it through the created hole.
- Pull the loops tight and enjoy your nicely tied shoes.
