# The way new shoes come laced in the box **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 2, 2015, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771 "2015-08-02T01:22:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771/1 "2015-08-02T01:22:14Z")
Does this drive anyone else a little mad? I mean the way the laces seem to be laced from the outside in, instead of from the inside out, if you know what I mean. It makes it almost impossible to loosen and tighten the laces, because it seems like you have to pull them the opposite way of what you would expect to get the job done. I can only imagine they do it because it looks neater when they are on display, but dammit, I have to unlace them and lace them up the way god intended before I can wear 'em. Or is it only me? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771/2 "2015-08-02T01:32:17Z")
Geez, talk about your First World problems. 😉 But nah, it isn’t just you. I too have always wondered why they do that, and it happens over here too, so it must be some sort of industry standard. Who in real life laces their shoes that way? I always redo 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:** [August 2, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771/3 "2015-08-02T02:39:33Z")
I worked in a shoe store in college. Lots of shoes would come “display laced”. Others would come completely unlaced and we’d have to lace them up that weird way. I hated it. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771/4 "2015-08-02T03:50:14Z")
Andy Rooney lives! “Anybody ever got any use out of that little red thread inside the Band-Aids wrapper? You’re supposed to pull on it to open the wrapper. You pull on it, and it comes loose in your fingers. Now, it seems to me, a country that can make a moon rocket ought to know how to glue down one end of a piece of red thread. But maybe that’s just me…” ---
**Author:** ![oz0ne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9fc348/32.png) [@oz0ne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oz0ne)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771/5 "2015-08-02T04:31:47Z")
Nope, not just you. Once home, I have to relace. But forgetting to take the paper out of the toes is what really fucks me up. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771/6 "2015-08-02T05:46:56Z")
Ditto. I wear Converse All-Stars, which I buy at Foot Locker. They always come laced in that bass-ackward inside-out way. I always insist on trying them on in the store, and for that I have to unlace the whole thing and relace it. All while the salesman sits there fidgeting. Once I get the shoes on and comfortably tied, if they fit well, I wear them right out of the store. Occasionally a shoe won’t fit well for some reason, and I ask to see another pair. Then I suppose the sales clerk has to re-do the laces to the display way. I can’t see the point of it. The clerks, by the way, don’t seem to have the concept that the way one actually wears shoe-laces isn’t the way they come in the box. They always seem surprised that I want to lace them differently, as if the display way is all they’ve ever seen or heard of. ETA: And I always wear high-tops, so that’s a whole lotta lacing going on. ---
**Author:** ![funky\_little\_lee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@funky\_little\_lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funky_little_lee)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771/7 "2015-08-03T02:01:50Z")
I wear my work boots laced just as they came in the box. If they came laced the other way, I’d wear them that way. I never really thought about it. But then, I don’t care whether the toilet paper comes off the top or the bottom of the roll, either. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771/8 "2015-08-03T02:13:02Z")
It’s the worst. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771/9 "2015-08-03T02:50:13Z")
I make my own laces - they’re better and cheaper! JK, I hate it too. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771/10 "2015-08-03T20:04:30Z")
I have to re-lace my sneakers, too. Oddly enough, my running shoes come laced correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771/11 "2015-08-03T20:53:57Z")
> [@funky\_little\_lee](#): > > But then, I don’t care whether the toilet paper comes off the top or the bottom of the roll, either. Blasphemer!! Heretic!! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771/12 "2015-08-04T02:24:45Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > Blasphemer!! Heretic!! +1 ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771/13 "2015-08-06T01:08:11Z")
I wept because I had no shoes. Until I met someone who had shoes that were laced up funny and I thought “dodged a bullet there!” I hate that lacing thing, too. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![birdbrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@birdbrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/birdbrain)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771/14 "2015-08-06T01:58:26Z")
I have not owned a pair of shoes with laces for \> 8 years. I’ve had many pairs of loafers, sandals, Sanuks, and slip on Chuck Taylor’s. I think the last time I tied my own shoe I was at a bowling alley. It was awful. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771/15 "2015-08-06T03:25:33Z")
I generally wore trainers most of my life — although it’s now nearly impossibly to get vegan ones, without cheap Chinese pigskin ( the last I got had to be American, from Merriams ) — and I’ve completely forgotten whatever was the ‘optimal’ lacing I was using. However there is a website for most things, and here’s: **[Ian’s Shoelace Site](http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/lacingmethods.htm)** - _Bringing you the fun, fashion & science of shoelaces_. There’s even an app for iPhones, presumably for those sudden shoe-lacing emergencies. Which sounds very Apple. ---
**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:** [August 6, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771/16 "2015-08-06T20:12:14Z")
> [@birdbrain](#): > > I have not owned a pair of shoes with laces for \> 8 years. I’ve had many pairs of loafers, sandals, Sanuks, and slip on Chuck Taylor’s. I think the last time I tied my own shoe I was at a bowling alley. It was awful. I can’t tell if you’re sincere or taking the piss with this post. Congratulations! ---
**Author:** ![birdbrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@birdbrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/birdbrain)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771/17 "2015-08-12T01:53:01Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I can’t tell if you’re sincere or taking the piss with this post. Congratulations! Oh, I’m quite sincere. I don’t like shoes in general and I particularly don’t like shoes with laces. I’m not sure if congratulations are in order, or even if they’re sincere, but thank you. I hope some day you’ll join me and be lace free. It really is quite wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771/18 "2015-08-12T07:39:45Z")
I’m with you on this one, **Fear**. It isn’t _that_ big a deal, obviously, but still, it’s annoying as hell when I first pull a new pair of sneakers out of the box, and have to undo the way they’ve laced them, and re-do them properly. I can maybe understand why shoes on display in a bricks-and-mortar store are laced this way, but why do they bother doing this with shoes sold over the Web and delivered by UPS? ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771/19 "2015-08-12T18:10:07Z")
> [@birdbrain](#): > > Oh, I’m quite sincere. I don’t like shoes in general and I particularly don’t like shoes with laces. I’m not sure if congratulations are in order, or even if they’re sincere, but thank you. I hope some day you’ll join me and be lace free. It really is quite wonderful. Yep, I rarely tie and never purposefully untie my shoes (with the exception of athletic cleats). Work shoes are loafers and sneakers are worn loose enough to slip on and off. Nontiers unite! > [@RTFirefly](#): > > I can maybe understand why shoes on display in a bricks-and-mortar store are laced this way, but why do they bother doing this with shoes sold over the Web and delivered by UPS? Because management at the factory would have to teach the lacing gnomes two different schemes, which would clearly violate the union contract. In addition, it would require open communication with the Vogon poets in Logistics, and no one wants that. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771/20 "2015-08-12T19:09:51Z")
The only shoes I have that lace are my running shoes and my steel toed work boots. The running shoes DO come laced properly, as another poster said. No one knows why, but we are grateful. I wonder if they think we lack the patience to relace them? That we just want to pop them on and race off! My steel toed boots came completely unlaced, with the laces neatly packaged in the box. I have no idea what purpose that serves, either. Perhaps it’s easiest for the factory to make them that way and no one tends to display them, anyway. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-way-new-shoes-come-laced-in-the-box/726771.md?page=2)