Why hasn’t a successful alternative to laces been invented?
They were invented, what, 400 years ago? (wild guess). We still use them. They still break. We still have to bend down and tie them. You’d think our hard-wearing footwear of choice would only require us to insert our foot, and nothing more by now.
I know there are alternatives. But they are hardly world-domination successful.
As you say, there are plenty of alternatives–elastic, velcro, zippers, slip-ons. People use laces because they fit the traditional idea of what a shoe should look like.
Hey, the technology works, why build a better mousetrap? Laces may not be high-tech, but they get the job done in 99% of cases. They’re light and relatively simple, two things that are essential for footwear.
Not to mention that velcro wears out eventually (I’ve worn out the velcro on shoes before,) zippers can jam, slip-ons aren’t too secure in certain situations, and snaps are inefficient.
Well, as mentioned they have asthetic appeal.
But it seems to me that they’re also a decent solution to the problem of fastening a semi-soft boot in a way that’s snug but supportive, because they distribute the force along their whole length. They also don’t add significant amounts to the cost of a shoe.
Obviously loafers and slippers don’t need a fastener, but think about a work boot. What else would you use? Zippers/snaps/hooks can’t snug down to support the foot well. Soft straps would result in squeezing at the straps and less support where they aren’t (additionally buckles would take too much time, while velcro is not as secure as a lace and magnetic seals aren’t practical).
Laces have been superceded for shirts, pants and dresses (except sometimes as a fashion accent) and other pieces of clothing. Middle-ages style lace-up shirts/dresses now use buttons, zippers, or snaps.
But for boots, I think laces work better than most other technologies.
Laces are infinitley adjustable too. You can adjust the tension in one part of the show more than another. Zippers cannot do that. Velcro could do that if you had a large number of very small strips but just think how that would work out. Of course, laces will loosen and redistribute over time but so would any other similar solution. The very best solution would be a bunch or tiny cords that you attach to the side of you shoe very firmly for an exact fit to the contour of your foot. Do you think that would be worth it?
And the reason they aren’t world-domination successful is because in many situations they don’t work as well. For any fastener you still have to bend down to adjust it, and any fastener will wear out or break eventually. Unlike laces, the other options defy easy and inexpensive restoration to like-new operation.
If you know how to design a footwear fastener that will adjust properly just by the insertion of a foot, patent it and get rich. Probably no one else has done it yet because it’s not possible.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, laces let a hiker have enough tension to avoid problematic slippage when walking the trail, then adjust to less to allow for proper circulation and comfort when sitting or puttering about camp. As mentioned above, they can be precisely and rather easily adjusted. Sometimes simple and effective is better than high-tech, even if you have to spend ten whole seconds manipulating it. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
And when said hiker breaks a lace, it’s easy and cheap to replace. You can get laces pretty much everywhere, and if you’re in the middle of nowhere, you can use twine, string, a bungee, a strip of fabric, braided tooth floss or even a few long pieces of tough grass twisted together into a cord.
The velcro on my husband’s favorite sandals isn’t sticky anymore, and he’s distraught because it’s going to cost something like $20 to replace - at a specialty shoestore. He’s having trouble justifying a $20 expense on a $30 pair of sandals…meanwhile, I’m hanging onto 10 year old boots with an annual investment of $2 for new laces.
Velcro is LOUD, especially if you’re trying to refasten your shoe in a quiet place, like a classroom.
Plus what everybody else said.
Not true. Patton had a new type of boot created for his tank crews, one that would specifically take less time to put on and fasten than the standard boots. These were called tanker boots and as I understand are still used in the military. I’ve had a couple pairs and they were much easier to get on, but the downside was that the straps loosened (leater stretched) and the boots bunched funny along the outside making the whole thing more difficult to use as time went on.
There are also “alert boots” that have a single zipper or paratrooper boots that use zippers in place of all or part of the fastening system. I’ve never owned any (although I did have some p-troopers that I only wore a couple of times), but people I’ve talked to who have used them say they work fine.
This is for boots (and 12" military ones for that matter) and not shoes though.
Am I the only one who remembers Reebok’s “insta-pump”? No laces or anything. Plus you got this sick CO[sub]2[/sub] gun thingie to pump your shoes up. Gotta love the 90’s.
I thought about mention9ing them, but couldn’t remember their name. I tried a friend’s once (they were new) they were waay more trouble than they were worth.
All any technology needs to succeed is to be Good Enough. It does not have to be perfect, or even more advanced than other alternatives. But if it gets the job done, the minor inconveniences can be lived with.
I almost exclusively wear elastic-sided work boots. They can require a bit of force to get on or off, but once you’re wearing them, they are snug and NEVER slip off. ON the other hand, I’ve never liked laces that much. I tend to tie them, walk ten feet, then decide the tension isn’t right, re-tie them, walk another ten feet…
As soon as I became an adult and was buying my own shoes, I gave laces the flick. They remind me of clunky school shoes now.
Perhaps laces themselves have improved. I don’t know anything about them but they look like a fairly sophisticated piece of engineering, or at least a result of refinement over a long time. The friction and elasticity can’t be too high or too low, for example.