Elastic Shoelaces

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Many months ago, I bought a pair of gym shoes that came with elastic shoelaces. You don’t tie them, so there is less bending over and no occasions where they become loose.

Since my legs are occasionally sore or stiff following weightlifting sessions, I really like them. I wouldn’t say they haven’t caught on, because Costco sells a couple shoes which have them, but yet you rarely see them in the wild despite their convenience and low cost. (Waiters seem to like them for some reason).

But why? Several reasons come to mind: people don’t know about them? People associate them with babies and old people and limited mobility? There are disadvantages I don’t recognize? People enjoy the romance and folklore of tying shoes? Tying shoelaces forces people to stretch more than they otherwise would? Tying shoelaces gives a bit more control using various knots and bows? (It doesn’t perhaps help when shoe manufacturers lack any subtlety and write stuff on the side of the shoes containing them).

A trivial topic… Surprising a brief search did not uncover a previous discussion, making it first possibility a bit more likely if my Google-fu is strong. But I really like this trivial improvement!

Misread thread titles
2

Not elastic (or at least not very elastic), my shoes have a center pull and a latch mechanism.
I need to replace those and have been looking for shoes with the same feature - so far only Solomon seems to have any. However, I found you can get similar results with lock laces.
https://www.locklaces.com (Note I have not tried them, but plan on doing so)

Brian

3

Are you talking about “bumpy” / “bubbly” no-tie laces like these? The Original No tie shoelace | Laces for runners | Caterpy Run

I thought I was the only person (adult, at least) who wore them! They’re a bit ridiculous-looking, but amazing… I use them for walking, running, hiking, the gym, calisthenics, etc., and they’ve never come undone. I love the heck out of 'em, but my partner thinks they look ridiculous and make me look a senile toddler…

I’m sure I lose a lot of respect for wearing them in public, but to hell with the haters. Most comfortable laces ever.

4

Maybe related.

A friend of mine was in a stage musical over 40 years ago. The shoes that he wore looked like regular shoes with regular laces but they were elastic to enable quick costume changes.

5

Sure, but even these… No bow loop, but not that different looking from the usual.

6

I’ve never bought elastic laces but recently bought several pairs of Skechers slip-ins. They similarly don’t need to be laced.

7

When I was a runner, a few years back, I used those, and liked them a great deal.

8

Canadian Costco sells Sketchers. And they also have a shoehorn built into the heel. But similar elastic laces are as cheap on Amazon as regulars, and work with most shoes.

9

Hmm… does that mean those aren’t adjustable at all, kinda like a slip-in slipper-type shoe? You can’t make the elasticity any tighter or looser?

With the bubbly Caterpy kind, you can still adjust them, per-row, like a regular pair of laces (which is a big advantage they have over Velcro shoes or slip-ins). Then they just stay at that tightness once they’re set, at least to the nearest “bubble”.

10

Perhaps. But after using these shoes to frequently leg press many hundreds of pounds, sprint, etc. for two or three years, the plainer laces remain at about the same excellent level of elasticity. I haven’t noticed even a small decline in function.

11

That’s good to know. They certainly look more socially acceptable than the toddler-bubbles.

Are they only available in shoes that come with them built-in? (I don’t see a way to “insert” them aftermarket into shoes that want normal laces?)

12

I’m retired and use Velcro shoes and slippers. :sunglasses:

13

I don’t doubt that they retain their shape but is there a way to set them to a certain level of tightness in the first place?

14

Yes.Amazon has 1000s.

I like the slide gripper lock. My grandsons have them. Seem awfully convenient. I actually bought some of the gripper locks to put on my drawstring yoga pants. I don’t like to tie them and the knot gets clever and won’t untie. Just to irk me. The very reason scissors are in the bathroom. I will cut.

I’m not sure how you insert the elastic strings into other wise normal eyelet tennis shoes.

I’m sure it’s not hard.

15

I’ve been using an aftermarket no-tie lace for years. Only drawback is it’s pretty much not possible to transfer the laces to a newer pair of shoes, so I need to remember to get replacements when I buy new sneakers.

16

Skechers Slip-Ins are getting quite popular. But they do look quite a bit like regular shoes/laces, so they’re not all that noticeable.

17

I’m very intrigued. I think that I’ll give these a try.

18

Huh, interesting, thanks for sharing! That looks a lot more normal than my toddler bubbles.

Why aren’t they transferable, though? Does that plastic doohickey “glue” the two ends together permanently?

19

Whatever that doohickey piece is you can buy just them that screw together and are metal. Probably transferable to any elastic lacing.

Make your own.

You would not believe the amount of elastic cord that is available. Many colors. Even patterns. I just bought checkerboard laces. Because I’m weird like that.

And I wear Crocs all the time.

I’m gonna use my checkered laces for something else. Not shoes.

20

So it basically just ties the two ends together? Hmm. Interesting idea.

Although I also wonder how stable that arrangement is over time, not just in terms of coming undone, but of each row of laces losing their tightness and normalizing across the length of the entire lace.

The bubbles version doesn’t have that issue because each row self-limits their movement (either way) to the nearest bubble. Once you set its tightness, that row is going to stay like that well past the useful life of the shoe. And plus they’re easily transferable.

Hmm. Tradeoffs…