# How do you start lacing your shoes? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 22, 2016, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-lacing-your-shoes/743861 "2016-01-22T05:21:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-lacing-your-shoes/743861/21 "2016-01-23T18:53:07Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Over, always. It’s what I was taught, and the way I always see them started when I get the shoes from the store. Every other eyelet goes under/over, but not the first ones. And I’d have to lace them so they are mirror images of each other or I wouldn’t be able to wear them. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-lacing-your-shoes/743861/22 "2016-01-23T19:46:57Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > And I’d have to lace them so they are mirror images of each other or I wouldn’t be able to wear them. Mine are all mirror image, too! I started this poll after yet again having to take the laces out of shoes and re-lace them _properly_. For me, that means the first lace is over and the shoes are laced mirror image of each other, with the “over” laces where they cross going from the outside of the shoe in. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-lacing-your-shoes/743861/23 "2016-01-24T01:21:07Z")
We had a kid’s book that had a rhyme…I know how to tie my shoe, I make a loop and pull it through. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-lacing-your-shoes/743861/24 "2016-01-24T03:26:50Z")
Don’t hack sack players lace them under to make a flat toe area? ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-lacing-your-shoes/743861/25 "2016-01-24T05:03:21Z")
Under - it’s quicker and easier to start. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-lacing-your-shoes/743861/26 "2016-01-24T05:42:41Z")
All over with one end of the lace and the other diagonally bottom to top under them. Looking at them it seems I do the diagonal from outer bottom to inner top. No idea why. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-lacing-your-shoes/743861/27 "2016-01-24T17:05:35Z")
I clicked “under” but I’m not sure I understood properly. I mean the lace is inside the shoe, and each end emerges through the inner pair of eyelets, and then I guess it’s from under-to over the rest of the way. ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-lacing-your-shoes/743861/28 "2016-01-24T19:04:46Z")
My shoes don’t have eyelets. They lace through ribbon loops so all laces enter and exit “over.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-lacing-your-shoes/743861.md?page=1)