# Is the lace code still around or used? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 16, 2022, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-lace-code-still-around-or-used/976659 "2022-12-16T18:22:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2022, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-lace-code-still-around-or-used/976659/1 "2022-12-16T18:22:08Z")
I stumbled upon this code somewhere (I want to say after watching Green Room). People would use the different color laces in their Doc Martins to express their views on race or capacity for violence (blue means you’re a cop killer, for example) to people in the punk world. Is it still popular and/or recognized? ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2022, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-lace-code-still-around-or-used/976659/2 "2022-12-16T19:57:34Z")
The only people I ever saw in the US that ever used that “code” were skinheads. I thought they were dumb at the time (mid 80s) for that and various other things. At least that code was something dumb they did that you could laugh at. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2022, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-lace-code-still-around-or-used/976659/3 "2022-12-16T20:00:11Z")
I have not seen anyone wearing Docs for some time\*, and I have never heard of the “lace code”. - my wife has a pair, but rarely wears them. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2022, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-lace-code-still-around-or-used/976659/4 "2022-12-16T20:28:59Z")
I saw someone (female, around 30, not a skinhead) wearing Dr. Martens just last week. They are still being made and sold. ETA: the laces on [drmartens.com](http://drmartens.com) consistently seem to match the color of the shoes: black for black boots, brown for brown boots, yellow for yellow suede shoes, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2022, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-lace-code-still-around-or-used/976659/5 "2022-12-16T20:30:46Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > I stumbled upon this code That link does not have a URL… ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2022, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-lace-code-still-around-or-used/976659/6 "2022-12-16T20:48:01Z")
Sorry. [This one](https://usa.inquirer.net/118670/doc-martens-lace-code-fully-explained/amp) should be ok. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2022, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-lace-code-still-around-or-used/976659/7 "2022-12-16T21:02:25Z")
I thought the important thing was which ear you had your laces in. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2022, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-lace-code-still-around-or-used/976659/8 "2022-12-16T21:43:32Z")
Oh, SHOELACES. For some reason I was picturing skinheads walking around with doilies hanging out of their shoes. Which would be much more hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2022, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-lace-code-still-around-or-used/976659/9 "2022-12-16T22:12:01Z")
Our family were lace-curtain skinheads, not those shanty skinheads. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2022, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-lace-code-still-around-or-used/976659/10 "2022-12-16T22:14:03Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Oh, SHOELACES. For some reason I was picturing skinheads walking around with doilies hanging out of their shoes. Which would be much more hilarious. Me, too. I thought, man that’s bold! ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2022, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-lace-code-still-around-or-used/976659/11 "2022-12-16T22:26:02Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > I saw someone (female, around 30, not a skinhead) wearing Dr. Martens just last week. They are back in fashion, 16-18 yr old girls are into the 8 lace holes, black leather, thick soles. I want to buy some but as an ageing male - and my last Doc Martens only lasted about a year - this seems unlikely. I don’t particularly rate them for quality, but steel toes do have some advantages. I dropped a pool table on mine and did not have any crush injuries. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2022, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-lace-code-still-around-or-used/976659/12 "2022-12-16T22:35:19Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Oh, SHOELACES. For some reason I was picturing skinheads walking around with doilies hanging out of their shoes. Eh, some of us came in here hoping the thread would be about stuff like [the Bruges color code for bobbin lacemaking](https://www.mail-archive.com/lace@arachne.com/msg51345.html) or [Zeena Parkins’s project for interpreting lace patterns in musical notation.](https://hyperallergic.com/340012/musical-compositions-stitched-from-lace-patterns/) Life is full of disappointments! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2022, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-lace-code-still-around-or-used/976659/13 "2022-12-16T22:45:06Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > I don’t particularly rate them for quality, but steel toes do have some advantages. I once toured a artsy glass blowing shop, and the artsy woman working was wearing DMs, I thought, yeah, this is style meets function. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2022, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-lace-code-still-around-or-used/976659/14 "2022-12-17T00:41:33Z")
I thought they were talking about wartime espionage using knitting to transmit informaton. > **[The Wartime Spies Who Used Knitting as an Espionage Tool](https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/knitting-spies-wwi-wwii)** > > Grandma was just making a sweater. Or was she? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2022, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-lace-code-still-around-or-used/976659/15 "2022-12-17T01:05:47Z")
I just have to add a data point: I was born in 1968 in Germany so I came of age in the eighties, and back then I heard about the Doc’s lace code, something to sort out the fascist skinheads from the “good”, ska-loving skinheads and the punks. I never was into the scene, but the meme about the code existed back then. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-lace-code-still-around-or-used/976659/16 "2022-12-18T01:59:12Z")
Meh. Nowhere near as complex and convoluted as bandanas in a back pocket. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-lace-code-still-around-or-used/976659/17 "2022-12-18T03:00:57Z")
Like this? … > [@What is the single largest screw up you've ever witnessed at your job?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-single-largest-screw-up-youve-ever-witnessed-at-your-job/721857/106): > > In a similar vein: The airline I worked for got bought by a larger competitor. So along the way we all got their uniforms. And once we were all dressed like them we began working together as one big blended group. At the old airline there was one just set of ties & pocket squares for the male flight attendants ("MFA"s). At the new airline there were 3: red, yellow, and blue. Each MFA was free to choose whichever color(s) he preferred. Officially there was no difference between them. UNoffi…