Not many people look at other people’s shoes but if you think about it, the way you lace your shoes can totally impact their overall look. The old adage that ‘something is equal to the sum of all its parts’ is the very mentality that governs the different ways you choose to lace up your pair of shoes.
So let us look at different ways to lace shoes – converse or vans, shoes with a different number of holes or eyelets, and also discuss the ultra-popular diamond lace shoe patterns. For all the examples discussed here, we are placing the shoes with the toe-end downward and the heel end upward as shown below
1. Straight bar method for dress shoes
This is a cool way to lace shoes vans or converse but it is especially used for dress shoes. This method of lacing shoes is not commonly seen simply because people do not know how to do it. In reality, it is very easy and is the best way to lace shoes straight across:
- Imagine that each side of the lace possesses a color. For example, the piece of lace on the left side of the shoe is red and that on the right is yellow.
- The idea is to send one piece of the lace across the shoe from one side to other and then push it outwards through the hole that sits 2 holes above the one that the lace was pushed inward through.
- To explain this better, imagine your shoe is facing you with the lace solely pushed through the bottom two holes. You would take the red side of the lace and push it through the next hole on the right, send it across and downwards through the adjacent hole and outwards through the hole that sits two above the last one and inwards through the adjacent one.
2. Plain and simple crisscross lacing
The plain and simple crisscross lacing is perfect for Vans, Converse, and other informal shoes with laces. The method can also be used for dress shoes as well. It is perfect for lacing shoes when you are short on time and yet want to stand out in the crowd.
- Send each side of the lace outwards through adjacent holes and then inwards through the hole that sits above and across the first hole.
- Push the laces outwards through the hole that sits above the last.
- Repeat the process.
3. Roman lacing
This method combines the crisscross and the straight bar method and is a unique way to lace converse or vans.
- Start with pulling one end of the lace through the topmost hole from the inside to the outside.
- Pull the other end of the lace through the hole just beneath the first one.
- Next, pull that same end through the top hole adjacent to the first hole.
- Crossover the opposite end of the lace through the hole beneath the above hole.
- Pull the other end through the third hole just below this hole.
- Next, pull the same end of the lace through the adjacent hole to form the bar.
- Pull out the opposite end through the fourth hole on the opposite side.
- Repeat the above steps so that you have a bar between two sets of crisscross laces.
4. Saw-tooth method to lace shoes
This method of lacing shoes is perfect for ill-fitting shoes as it pulls at a steep angle and shifts the alignment of the sides and corrects ill-fitting shoes.
- Start with the simple bar through the topmost eyelet pair of the shoe. (top means the side nearest to the toes)
- Take the leftmost lace end and insert it straight from down to up in the hole just beneath the topmost eyelet.
- The other end will go diagonally through the hole just beneath the one from which your first lace end is hanging out.
- Bring the first lace end straight like a bar in through the adjacent eyelet.
- Diagonally bring that end through the next eyelet and bring the other end as a bar through the adjacent eyelet.
- Continue the process until the last pair of eyelets.
- When you reach the last eyelet, you need to bring the side of the lace that you just crossed through the last eyelet
5. Diamond lace
The diamond lace shoelace pattern is slightly complicated but it can transform any shoe into a whole different level. If you are wondering how to diamond lace shoes, use the procedure below:
- Start by weaving the lace through the right side, bottom-most eyelet of the shoe. Make a ‘bar’ by bringing the same end through the adjacent eyelet. Make sure the lace measures equal length on both sides.
- Take the right side of the lace and diagonally bring it from upside to the lower side through the third eyelet on the left side of the shoe.
- Bring the end of that same side through the skipped hole/eyelet above it.
- Diagonally cross the left side of lace through the third eyelet on the opposite side and similarly bring that same end through the skipped hole/eyelet above it.
- Diagonally cross the right side of the lace to the eyelet one below its adjacent eyelet. Again weave the same side through the hole/eyelet that is adjacent and was skipped.
- Diagonally cross the left side of the lace through the eyelet one below the adjacent eyelet. Weave that end through the eyelet above it.
- Continue this pattern until you reach the last eyelet pair.
Some more resources
Here are some creative and cool ways to tie shoelaces.