Shoelaces that won't stay tied

[DTMark 4,970]

At the risk of sounding like someone from the NextDoor forum..

I have two pairs of trainers with laces that just will not stay tied. It doesn't matter how tightly I knot them.

I hasten to say that I have not experienced this particular problem before in my life. It isn't some long-running thing related to an inability to tie shoelaces.

Every few hundred metres one or both will come untied and I have to do them up again. Obviously this inconvenience doesn't rank up there alongside - for example - being penniless or going hungry, but it is nonetheless annoying.

Are the laces crap? By what mechanism are they crap, are they made of the wrong material? Too cheap? Is there a solution to fix them without changing them?

So many questions.

[Austin Allegro 11,168]

The traditional under and over knot followed by a bow does not always hold very well on certain types of laces, nor does a double knot help.

You need to tie the laces with a different type of knot which will not come undone. There are various videos showing this on Youtube. I tie mine with the normal under and over knot but then instead of tying the two ends into a bow, you tie them into a sort of reef knot which when finished, looks exactly like a conventional bow, but never comes undone.

This is one of the most helpful habit-changes I've ever made because in the past I spent ages bending over to do up laces!

 

[jm51 1,335]

Take note of how you tie them, right over left etc. and then tie them the opposite way.

[The XYY Man 11,964]

My safety shoes at work are the same. I reckon it's some form of cheap laces made out of some plastic shite like nylon. The ones you get in a pair of Doctor Martens or a decent pair of football boots don't ever come undone.

 

XYY

[JoeDavola 14,530]

Find yourself a good shoe mender and he should stock good laces.

I'm fortunate to have a great one near my work who does my shoes and when the shite laces that came with them both snapped in the space of a week he put on a pair of laces so strong you could fucking choke someone with them, and they stay tied, for the total cost of £2.

[Frank Hovis 29,500]

Rubbish laces; they are slippery against each other.  It's nothing to do with the trainer.

You must have loads of old laces from trainers as the trainers usually give up before the laces do so just replace them.  I have an old ice cream container full of them.

The best laces for not coming untied are the flat ones.

[Long time lurking 10,871]

[The XYY Man 11,964]

3 hours ago, Long time lurking said:

 

Super glue is for poofs...

 

XYY

Edited January 26 by The XYY Man

[swiss_democracy_for_all 12,243]

On 24/01/2020 at 11:21, DTMark said:

At the risk of sounding like someone from the NextDoor forum..

I have two pairs of trainers with laces that just will not stay tied. It doesn't matter how tightly I knot them.

I hasten to say that I have not experienced this particular problem before in my life. It isn't some long-running thing related to an inability to tie shoelaces.

Every few hundred metres one or both will come untied and I have to do them up again. Obviously this inconvenience doesn't rank up there alongside - for example - being penniless or going hungry, but it is nonetheless annoying.

Are the laces crap? By what mechanism are they crap, are they made of the wrong material? Too cheap? Is there a solution to fix them without changing them?

So many questions.

It’s just the material. 

You can buy laces that won’t loosen as you walk and won’t come undone, my walking boots have them, they were supplied with them. 

Here are some others I googled. My boots fancy laces look like number 2 on this list. 

https://bootmoodfoot.com/best-boot-laces/

 

Edited January 27 by swiss_democracy_for_all

[Long time lurking 10,871]

12 hours ago, The XYY Man said:

Super glue is for poofs...

 

XYY

I`m able to tie my boot laces so i could not possibly comment 

[wherebee 9,875]

Unless you need them tied 'formally' for a posh do, get in the habit of double tying your laces.  They will not come undo accidentally, and when the zombie invasion hits you won't trip yourself up in an amusing yet fatal moment of bad luck

[Panther 3,669]

Tightness has nothing to do with it. Ropes, which are what laces are, are knotted so as to utilise opposing forces and friction to create stability. Either you are tying them wrong or they are too smooth, try tying the bow the other way around.

Edited February 10 by Panther

[twocents 10,049]

When they're new trainer laces are usually a bit too long and for some reason they tend to come loose after tying - maybe partly due to the free ends and the large loop knots scuffing  and brushing against the other shoe.  Cutting them shorter to end up with a smaller knot and shorter free ends does the trick - or replace them with shorter laces.

At any rate that's my experience of the problem.

Edited February 10 by twocents

[jm51 1,335]

22 hours ago, Panther said:

Tightness has nothing to do with it. Ropes, which are what laces are, are knotted so as to utilise opposing forces and friction to create stability. Either you are tying them wrong or they are too smooth, try tying the bow the other way around.

A reef knot holds, a granny knot can come undone.

[Bobthebuilder 563]

I have a new pair of boots made in China that the laces come undone, Never had the problem before in my life. Something weird is going on, the Chinese are trying to undo us.