How to lace your shoes? - Classic versions

This not a post on the actual tying because I believe all my readers have probably mastered his and those few that haven't are more then welcome to email me and am happy to cover it.

This is simply a post to shoe the couple of ways that laces should be done for the most classic of looks.

Please check out Ian's Shoelace Site as it is simply the best for methods and variations of shoe lacing I know. The methods detailed on the site seem mostly for real afficiados of lacing but there are some classics that I will post here.


Criss Cross Lacing:

Lacing Technique:

1. The lace is run straight across the bottom (grey section) and the ends emerge through both bottom eyelets.

2. The ends are crossed over each other, then fed under the sides to emerge through the next set of eyelets up the shoe.

3. Repeat step (2) until both ends reach the top eyelets.











The above is from Ian's site and is titled criss cross lacing under methods tab.

This is how it should look on a pair of shoes:

Shoe Shop Lacing



Lacing Technique 1 (long diagonal segment):

1. The lace is run straight across the bottom (grey section) and the ends are fed in through both bottom eyelets.

2. The left (blue) end is crossed diagonally on the inside all the way to the top of the shoe and emerges through the top right eyelet.

3. The right (yellow) end is crossed diagonally on the inside and emerges through the next eyelet up the left side of the shoe, then continues straight across on the outside and is fed in through the opposite eyelet on the right side.

4. Repeat step (3) with the same end, each time running diagonally on the inside and straight across on the outside, until it reaches the top left eyelet.




Lacing Technique 2 (long straight segment):

1. The lace is run straight across the bottom (grey section) and the ends are fed in through both bottom eyelets.

2. The left (blue) end is run straight up on the inside all the way to the top of the shoe and emerges through the top left eyelet.

3. The right (yellow) end is crossed diagonally on the inside and emerges through the next eyelet up the left side of the shoe, then continues straight across on the outside and is fed in through the opposite eyelet on the right side.

4. Repeat step (3) with the same end, each time running diagonally on the inside and straight across on the outside, until it reaches the second row from the top of the shoe.

5. The right (yellow) end is run straight up on the inside and emerges through the top right eyelet.



The above is from Ian's site and is titled Shoe Shop Lacing under methods tab.

This is how it should look on your shoes:

Personally I now wear the shoe shop lacing method as I like the look aesthetically but either are great classic methods. Check out Ian's Shoelace  site if you have fit issues as as you can see in the tables I pasted from his site they carry comfort or note advice in it and should be looked through when trying the laces out.