How do I securely tie my shoes?

Question

When I tie my shoes, which have round cord laces, they very frequently become untied, even if I knot the loops. How can I tie them more securely?

Answer 1

More than the material used, it is the techniques that determines the tightness of a knot.

One of the safer shoe lace knots is the reef knot (with loops to ease opening). Unfortunately many people, including myself, only learned how to make a granny knot, which is not as secure and easily gets loose.

Both knots are extremely similar:

Reef knot (left lace under, then right lace under)
Granny knot (left lace under, then left lace under)

So when lacing our shoes we will easily make one or the other without realizing until it gets loose.

To make a proper reef knot we need the following steps:

1. Bend the left lace over the right and pull it through.
2. Make the left loop and take the right end around on the front.
3. Make the loop by pulling it through to the front.

This can correctly be made in different ways, i.e. we may start by bending the right over the left, and then start with the right loop (see Ian's Shoelace Site for more details and step by step images).

What is essential is that we had learned it the wrong way.

To overcome this we need to change the directions once different to what we were used to. What I do is I start by not putting the right end over the left (this is how I erroneously got used to do it), but just start with the left end over the right. Just this alone made my knots almost always tight.

Answer 2

@Takkat shows one way to tie a secure knot which is very good.

A friend in meatspace has shown me an easy to teach variant of this.

When you tie your shoe you:

• Cross the ends over each other
• Make a loop
• Wind the loose end around the loop once and push the middle into the winding part to make the second loop
• Pull on the loops to tighten

In my friend's method, you:

• Cross the ends over each other
• Cross the ends over each other again
• Make a loop
• Wind the loose end around the loop twice and push the middle into the winding part to make the second loop
• Pull on the loops to tighten

My friend told me that this is a variant of the Surgeon's knot. You can see a video for it (minus the extra first step) here: http://youtu.be/9YVQ79slKzY

Answer 3

Rub a candle along your shoelaces. The wax will prevent them from untying.

I have been using this technique for a long time with my football boots, which before opened up all few minutes. Now the laces stick together until I choose to open them up again.

The cool thing about this lifehack is, that it will work with almost any shoelaces, no matter if they're round or flat, if they're made out of leather or cloth.

Answer 4

A solution that's worked for me is to tie your shoes in the typical fashion. When you get to the point where you run the lace around the loop, go in the opposite direction. For instance, when I run the lace around the loop, I run it around the back of the loop then around to the front. Instead, go the opposite direction, running the lace around the front of the loop and around to the back. It's a little trickier, but apparently creates a stronger version of the typical tying method you were most likely taught as a child.

Answer 5

I use what Ian Fieggen calls the surgeans knot.
Which is the same knot but a different method of tying as the secure knot of the same site.

Basically, you tie your shoelaces the same way you usually do, checking that you do make a reef knot, not a granny, and when you bring your loop through, you do it twice.
It is rather simple, slightly bigger than a usual bow but way more secure. New laces in my work boots would come undone in half an hour with the normal knot, not at all in 8 hours with this knot.

If you can not get the bow to sit side ways on the foot, (so you are unable to use the reef knot,) try this method of tying the second half, single knot.
Or learn to tie the first half of the knot in the other direction.

That same site has loads more about shoe laces and their knots.

Answer 6

I saw something on TV about this (nothing to do with the type of laces).

The space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock said that most people tie their shoe laces the wrong way. The right way will make the laces tighter and more secure while also looking better.

Basically, she said that instead of going clockwise with the non-looped lace, you go anti-clockwise [?]. You know you've done it correctly when the 'ears' sit right.

You could probably find the episode of the show, it's called "Duck Quacks Don't Echo". It was the episode with the welsh comedian, Rhod Gilbert.

As for me, my mother taught me to do laces differently to everyone else. I didn't even notice until years later. My mother taught me to just make two hoops and tie them together, so that is what I have always done.