“He doesn’t lace up sneakers, but he trains the laces to deftly tie the original lacing and keep the shoe very firmly on his feet.”
It can be argued loudly that devices such as Velcro, a clasp and a zipper displace all other shoe clips, but this will be a great exaggeration. Lacing sneakers with 5 holes (as, indeed, with any other number of holes) can not be replaced by anything else.
Faithful Twine Saga
This is not to say that rope fastening shoes is an invention of our time. Since ancient times, the sole has been kept on the foot with leather straps or twine. Recall Roman and Greek sandals, Indian moccasins or Russian bast shoes. Today it is braided from threads with densified ends. The methods of lacing may depend on the cross-section (round or flat), on the purpose of the shoes (sneakers, shoes, boots, boots), on the material used to make the threads (cotton, silk or synthetics).
If you look a little deeper into history, you can find out that since the 13th century people used rope accessories both in clothes and in shoes. And they made them from a variety of materials. These were, for example:
- bast and cotton;
- jute and hemp;
- silk and wool.
For convenience and preservation of the ropes from tearing, soft metal (copper or iron) has long been used. Now they often use plastic for this. And the filament fiber itself can be synthetic.
Without a lace, neither there nor here
Decorative and functional knots and a variety of non-standard lacing options give ordinary shoes a very original look. This is successfully used by young people, and not only it. In some models of shoes or shoes, the traditional difference is precisely the method of rope weaving. For example, the “Oxfordian” style is famous for the fact that it is closed lacing that is used to fix the shoes, and not some other.
The interlacing of twine on sports or regular boots should not only perform a decorative function, but also thoroughly fasten the shafts to the foot and ankle of the foot. Otherwise, serious injury could result. Sometimes it’s enough to change the lacing methods to get rid of leg pain or discomfort during normal walking or sports.
Ways to weave braid on sneakers for playing soccer can mimic the likeness of a cup for catching and tossing the ball. How to lace up? On the bottom of the shoe, some pairs of holes just need to be skipped to get longer stitches, and the upper part is pulled harder.
It is useful for cyclists to use a method in which the knot on the twine is on the side. In the process of lacing, both ends of the twine are displayed on one side of the shoe, which allows you to tie the ropes on the right side. This is convenient because the laces do not cling to the chain.
Most famous
As soon as this word is used in a figurative meaning! The expression “only shoelace strokes” is known, which means emotional rejection. By the way, this can only be done with flat ropes. They are less likely to untie than round ones.
In teenage slang, parents are called that. “Shoelaces in a glass” - means that parents are at home.
Even now, the guards are taking the cords from the prisoners for their own safety and for complicating their attempts to escape.
And most of all, the real lace of Yuri Gagarin became famous, which was unleashed at the most crucial moment - during the peppy astronaut's march for a report to N. S. Khrushchev about a successful flight.
Lacing options
It is impossible to accurately count how many methods exist for weaving ropes on the “facade” of shoes. The design of sneakers has long turned from fashion into a kind of youth movement. Every now and then there are new and new options for lacing. For some people, inventing unusual solutions in this area turns into a kind of hobby. Here are just a few of them:
- twisted;
- Roman numerals
- back loops;
- lattice;
- double two-tone method;
- with hidden nodes;
- lightning;
- staircase (European);
- checkered (from short shoelaces);
- double helix;
- butterfly;
- Railway.
And many, many other ways and names.
Some features of fixing sneakers during sports
The lacing of a 6-hole sneaker should be relaxed if its owner’s foot has a wide foot. In addition, for the comfort you need to avoid crossing the ropes, that is, it is better to alternate the side stitches with crosses. Lacing with such a foot should be fairly loose. A universal option called the "railway" is perfect, in which there are no crossing ribbons. This simple and decorative method is perfect for fitness.
Runners need a sense of stability during training or competition. It would seem that this can be achieved if the knots are tightened more strongly. However, your feet may just become numb and get sick. The solution is this: to the last pair of holes you need to raise the laces with eyelets without crosshairs and tighten the top tighter. Then the ends are pulled into opposite loops, tied into a knot.
Triathlon athletes often need to quickly and quickly change the lacing tension, then tighten, then relax the weave. One of the interesting and safe techniques called "closed weaving" is perfect. Use a long stretch of twine (up to 120 cm).
The most interesting
Very elegant is the lacing of the 6-hole sneaker called the “straight bar”. Take meter-long cords and, in a parallel fashion, they alternately thread into twin eyes.
The “lightning” method is similar to the colored diagonals with a peeping oblique line. It is made of a 120-centimeter rope, good for fixing roller skates, for active practice in any sport. There is one drawback - this weaving is delayed for a long time.
"Butterfly" from the ties can not fly. But in order to get lacing of sneakers with 5 holes of this style, you need to start weaving with a straight stitch over the shoes. Is the number of pair holes even? Then everything is done exactly the opposite: the initial first straight stitch is hidden inside the shoe. If you need to pull off part of the surface, they place a butterfly cross there. And where the foot needs some freedom, skipped stitches are made.
Feature: Crossing twine is done from the outside, and from the inside the cord is stretched vertically.
Reverse option
It is very significant that in the armies of different countries for fixing soldiers' shoes they use not modern "Velcro", but traditional strong twine. How to lace up? The “military” method is simply the flip side of the “butterfly” weave. An elastic, convenient and quick method that is simply delayed, quickly untied and easily cut with a knife in case of injury.
It doesn’t matter if the number of holes on the shoe is even or odd. You can always skip a couple of holes to maintain the pattern and the desired density of the braid.
To keep the knots tight
No matter how you spin the lacing, but in the end you need to tie it beautifully and firmly. There are few ways, as well as weaving options, but the most decorative and reliable ligaments have been checked and highlighted over time. The basis of any strong rope bundle is most often taken the so-called “direct sea” or “reef” knot. The trick is that one end of the twine braids the other, first from above, then from below. Such knots are easily braided, tightly tightened and very quickly untied: just pull the resulting side arms in different directions to loosen.
Additional knots at each step of the lacing can increase its practicality and strength. This is important when using ski boots, roller skates, as in order to relax this weave, you need to try very hard. You can call this option the most reliable for such sports.
Excellent hold of a bunch of ribbons made of natural cotton, while synthetic glide, and the nodes break up every now and then, giving their owners discomfort and inconvenience.
Two-tone lacing
- A beautiful 5-hole sneaker lacing comes from two contrasting colors of twine. In the segmental-knotted version, they are weaved in the usual intersecting way to the middle, slightly tightening the lower part of the shoe. Then make a reef knot and continue weaving to the end. They make very thin ribbons, folding them in half and fixing in the middle for each other.
- The double helix method weaves very quickly. The basis is taken in the usual cruciform way. At the intersection, the laces are twice intertwined. Then each tip is threaded into the hole opposite to the initial position. The two-tone lacing of the 5-hole sneaker is very decorative. An additional plus will be an easy tightening of the weave. In addition, with this method, the ropes last longer than usual.
- In the loopback method, the spiral turns are made vertically. It is better to use the color of the laces, contrasting to the color of the shoes.
What if an odd number of holes
Almost all methods of lacing shoes are designed for couples with an even number of holes on them. What to do to those owners of sneakers and boots who are unlucky with this? First of all, sometimes you need to be smart. There are several solutions to this problem:
- allow extra holes in the middle, bottom or top;
- make one diagonal bottom screed;
- use a double screed;
- cross-tie in the middle, bottom or top of the shoe, depending on the weave pattern.
And then lacing the sneaker with 5 holes will be available in any version. And the fastest weaving can be called a method of fast diagonal, when one of the ends of the rope is passed obliquely immediately from the bottom up, and the other passes through all openings from left to right (or vice versa). One end of the string should be much longer than the other.