Easy Lace silicone "no-tie" shoe laces

[AimlessWanderer]

I have been using these for a while, in one of my pairs of shoes, and have been very impressed with them so far.



There are two types of these laces. Round ones for "dress shoes" like these, and flat laces for use in trainers and the like. Aside from converting a laced shoe to slip-on, I have found other benefits too.

Firstly, they are more comfortable than conventional laces, especially when wearing the shoes all day. As my feet expand, the laces give, and I don't finish the day feeling like my feet are in a vice. Secondly, as the laces are individual ... one lace per pair of eyelets ... you can choose which eyelets you want clinching tighter, and which you want more relaxed.



For example, you might be able to tell from this pic, that the two top laces are tighter than the two bottom ones. The round lace type come with two different length laces in the box (10 of each), and I placed shorter ones in the upper holes, and longer ones in the lower holes. Having the lower laces as a more relaxed tension, is so much more comfortable than when the shoes were conventionally laced, but with the tighter tension in the upper holes, the shoes do not feel any less secure on the foot.

They might look a little odd to the purists, due to not having the lace bow. However, as the cuffs of my trousers sit over that anyway, nobody has ever noticed that the shoes were missing that bow.

The flat laced ones are different, in that rather than being 10 each of 2 different lengths, they are two each of 10 different lengths.

(Stock image from their website).

I haven't tried the flat laces yet, so I don't yet know if this lengthy variation will help or hinder me. I have however, ordered a big batch of these laces to convert a load of other shoes. That's how much I have liked these in the shoes shown above.

I have ordered 3 packs of round black, and 4 packs of round brown, for converting other dressier shoes which tend to have thin round laces. I have also ordered 4 packs of brown flat laces, plus a pack each of blue, black, and grey flat laces I don't have any sportswear here, but intend to try these out in deck shoes, cupsole casual shoes, and a few boots too.

When they land, I'll share pics of the laces, the shoes that get converted, and give feedback on whether the shoes wear any better or not after switching to the silicone laces. I expect some might work better than others, and I might well revert back to conventional laces for some of them. However, there are some items of footwear than I'm not happy with in conventional laces, and I am hoping I'll like the silicone ones a lot more. I'll explain more on that when I convert them.

 

[luvmysuper]

How do these connect? If they are not essentially an o-ring, which would be impossible to get in the eyelets, they have to have some means of connecting the two ends.
From the photos, it's not clear how they function.

 

[luvmysuper]

Ahhh, ok, I get it:

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Ahhh, ok, I get it:

View attachment 1796054

Yup. You got it!

The round lace variant has more of an arrowhead tip. I'll take pics of both types and post them when they land.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

@luvmysuper I'll confirm whether the flat laces have that identical end profile when I receive and open a box, but here's a rather unappealing photo inside the shoe I am currently using the round laces on (I really don't know why I didn't think of this earlier).



I can confirm that the ends on these are very secure. I can't get them out without cutting them. I know this, as I tried swapping the lengths around at one point, and had to snip each one to get them out, and put a fresh one in. That's on these shoes though. Obviously it might be different on a pair with slightly larger eyelets.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

They're here!

Flat lace: 4 x brown, 1 x black, 1 x blue, and 1 x grey
Round lace: 4 x brown, 3 x black

The tips on these all seem far more secure and easier to install (depending on eyelet diameter), than the type @luvmysuper shared a pic of above.

In the flat lace packs there's 2 of each length. Those lines are 8mm spacing, to give you an idea of sizing. In the round lace packs, there's 10 of each length, but only those two lengths. They're either compatible or they're not. The flat laces have a bit more scope for lacing straight or crossed, which might help with lace length management to make better use of a full pack.

As I mentioned before, once these are in, they probably need destroying to remove them again, so for each shoe that I'm considering using them on, I probably need to wear them laced conventionally, work out which eyelets pairings are most critical for best fit (i.e. which laces need to be tightest), and choose the lace lengths based on how each shoe/boot sits on the foot. Then fill out the rest of the pairings with whatever lace lengths I have free, allowing a more relaxed tension as needed.

I want to try doing these two boots first.

Neither of these are fully broken in yet, as they are both built like tanks, and both can be prone to lace creep. I start off wearing them with what seems like good tension, but after half a mile, they've worked loose where I need them tighter (instep top) and gotten uncomfortably tight around the ankle. This seems to be the case, no matter how I lace them. I also have to prat around with the lace hook on the back of my Swiss knife to get them tensioned up properly, and also detension them, to get them back off again. I'm hoping these will do away with all that.

I'm also hoping that with the flat laces, I can set up some differerential tension, to keep them locked on my foot, without choking the ankle, or letting my feet splay naturally within the boot. The other great thing about silicone laces, is they allow for some swell of the foot, without the boot getting uncomfortable. However, I also need to be mindful of allow enough elasticity, to still allow my foot to get in and around the corner as it were. It might be that I really ought to break them in more with conventional laces first, but I'll give these a try anyway. If I need to go back to bits of string until the soften up a bit more, so be it.

For £4.50 a pack, it's got to be worth a try...

I'll worry about playing about with the simpler shoes (and I'll share pics and comfort/fit results with those too), once I get these two awkward ones dealt with.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Other shoes I specifically want to try these silicone laces on...

Hotter "Harbour"

The downside to these shoes, which are otherwise superb, is the leather laces. No matter how I tie them when I leave the house, they always seem to need to be retied as soon as the shoe and foot get to working temperature, and then again after I have been sat for a while. While it would be nice to convert my other deck shoes to slip on too, I particularly want to ditch the leather laces from these.

Padders "Terrain"

Another shoe that often (but not as frequently as the Harbours) need a lace reset after a mile or so. The Padders "Lunar" I have, are more "set it and forget it" than these are, but aren't as good in wet weather or on unpaved surfaces. I think silicone laces should work very well in these, and with these eyelets, I should probably be able to get the flat laces in.

I'm not sure if these boots will be compatible, due to needing the round laces for the small eyelets, but being so widely spaced on the lowest eyelets. These are boots that are perfectly fine for predomintly flat and/or indoor occasions, if I'm getting wherever I am going by car, but I am hoping a more elastic lace might make these a little more forgiving of more outdoor miles, if I want to get there on foot or by public transport.

These are just screaming to become slip on shoes. There's no lacing problems as they are, it would be just nicer to slip 'em on and kick 'em off quicker.

I have other boots and shoes I can look at converting too, but not until I know how many laces I have left from getting all these specific pairs comfortably configured.

 

[ByMyBeard]

I've not used these, but I have used some elastic based laces before on athletic shoes. They are still laced as you typically would (one LONG lace per shoe), but then the elastic stretches (duh...) creating a slip on shoe. I used them on my running shoes when I did that, and on my daily shoes for work. Thus far, the laces certainly last longer than the shoes have.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I've not used these, but I have used some elastic based laces before on athletic shoes. They are still laced as you typically would (one LONG lace per shoe), but then the elastic stretches (duh...) creating a slip on shoe. I used them on my running shoes when I did that, and on my daily shoes for work. Thus far, the laces certainly last longer than the shoes have.

I have seen a few versions of those. I have seen ones with cable locks, and also some curly ones like phone handset cable, which supposedly don't need tying at all. I stumbled on these initially, as they were available at a UK High Street chain, when I needed some polish. Those first pair worked so well, I decided to stick with them.

I might look into the longer "one piece" elastic laces, for those shoes/boots which don't mesh well with this brand's system, but I'll give this one a good trial first.

 

[KW Driver]

I've not used these, but I have used some elastic based laces before on athletic shoes. They are still laced as you typically would (one LONG lace per shoe), but then the elastic stretches (duh...) creating a slip on shoe. I used them on my running shoes when I did that, and on my daily shoes for work. Thus far, the laces certainly last longer than the shoes have.

yep, same. these have been relegated to on property, anti-sticker defense sliders/chase the pups about the yard shoes at this point. they do the job and keep my off property shoes cleaner. I think this brand is "lock laces". they're... 12-13 odd years old now? I would tuck the lock and excess under the top crossed laces going forward towards the toe and never felt them.

Birchbury is doing “dress barefooters” too with similar.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Mixed results from these laces so far...

These boots...



... aren't even close to compatible. When laced up, the eyelets needed to keep my heel locked up in place, are too close together. This means that not only would there not be enough tension from the smallest band, but also, it probably wouldn't open wide enough to get my foot in and out either.

These boots appear to have been a success though.



Above: normal laces. Below: Easy Laces


Apologies for poor lighting/colour rendering.

They are not as tight on the foot as with conventional laces, but may be snug enough. I'll have a gentle stroll outdoors in them soon, to see how well they stay put, of whether they start rubbing.

The pack of blue laces was a bit of a waste of money, I think. I wanted them for my blue leather deck shoes, and potentially my blue suede chukkas too. However, the actual colour of the laces looks a little... I want to say childish, but that's maybe unfair. Too bright for the shoe. Also, in some light it can lean purple. Here are the shoes in question, both with a low watt overhead light, and with a flash.





They can look even more red tinged in the light catches them just right/wrong.

However, you'll notice another lace laid on each shoe too. The deck shoes have brown accents, so I might be ok using the brown Easy Laces instead, and for the chukkas, I might just get away with black laces (but I will convert my black leather deck shoes first, and then see what lace lengths I have left).

I have also relaxed my canvas deck shoes. The grey lace isn't a perfect match for the green canvas, but it's close enough for casual wear. The tension/comfort seems fine too.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I decided to try out the blue leather Hotter Harbour deck shoes with the blue laces. In case the tension was wrong, I figured I'd rather cut these out, than waste any of the brown ones. As it happens, the eyelets on these are actually large enough, that the top lace popped out a couple of times as I was trying them on, when the lace was at full stretch. The blue laces also didn't look quite as garish as I thought they might, so I have left them in for now.



I did go for the black laces on the Hotter Rowan (suede chukkas) though, and again, the top lace popped out a couple if times while trying them on. Neither of the laces have popped out while wearing them yet, but if they do, I might look at making some thin leather washers for the inside, to help secure them, once I have tested them out and about.

On the black and brown deck shoes, I actually had to cross the two shortest laces, to get something approaching proper tension. That seems to have done the trick, but all the ones I have converted so far, need to see some tarmac time, before I am convinced I have them configured correctly. I also want to see then in sunlight...

I have kept all the laces, in case any of these need converting back. Although most of them will probably work with the silicone laces, it's never going to be a 100% universal solution for every single shoe.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

First proper test.

Two kilometres on steep hills, in total comfort. They might not all be this successful, but I think these will be stopping as silicone laced.

 

[Leverspro]

Thanks for this. Never heard of stretch laces. Found a pack of 6 for $12 to try out.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I put some of the black dress laces in a pair of black derbys earlier.



Big fail.

The problem here (which is probably a lesson I should heed for other shoes), is that the soles are too stiff for these laces. As the laces flex more freely than the sole, my foot isn't locked in, and the heel is lifting straight out of the shoe. I did consider adding additional laces to the top two holes, essentially cross lacing them as well as straight lacing. There isn't enough space to get a second lace head through though.

These will definitely be going back to conventional laces. Thankfully, I only did one shoe, so I am only having to scrap four laces.

I do have a second (more heavily worn) pair of black derbys, with a far more flexible sole. I have put the stretchy dress laces in one of those, and that has worked much better.



... but then a little penny in my mind teetered and dropped...

How the hell do I go about polishing them, if the laces are locked in? Can I leave them in? Is silicone resistant to the solvents and waxes? I have no idea!

So before I consider converting any more dress(ier) shoes, I need to check to see how much flex there is in the soles, plus weigh up what king of cosmetic interventions I might make on them. For example, I have a pair of co-respondent shoes that are leather and suede, and another that are leather and tweed. They are more likely to just be brushed, lather than polished. So if the sole is flexible enough (or when the sole is flexible enough), they might work with these laces.





However, I also have a pair or black weaves, and an all leather pair of two tone shoes, which I might be more likey to try and polish up occasionally. They might be better left with tie up laces.

 

[johnniegold]

@AimlessWanderer

Would a tongue pad provide a more snug fit or would it give way to the looser (expanding) fit of the silicone laces?

 

[AimlessWanderer]

@AimlessWanderer

Would a tongue pad provide a more snug fit or would it give way to the looser (expanding) fit of the silicone laces?

On which ones, Bob?

Several pairs have converted successfully, and need no additional help/modifications. The ones that appear least suitable for these flexi laces, are shoes/boots with stiffer soles, as the silicone laces flex before the soles do. So far, there's only been one pair that I have had to cross the laces on, which still has a flexible enough sole to still work.

These three are on the limit of that functionality. Two due to the sole stiffness, and one due to the laces needing to be shortened (crossed).

Tongue pads may well help with the one on the right, but I will refrain for now as crossing the laces seems to have done the trick. I don't think they would help with the stiffer soles.

These...




... have converted just fine with the dress laces. Some similar shoes will need to stay with conventional laces due to being stiffer soles, but it's not essential for me to convert all my shoes. I just need a selection of "easy on" shoes that will "give" over a long day. I think trying to increase the elastic tension, to less yielding than the stiffer soles shoes, would leave shoes too tight for comfort.

I'm currently playing around with different (conventional) lacing configurations with these two...



... and switching to cross lacing (over/under) has helped. I'm also not lacing the two tone brogues right to the top. These two pairs still haven't developed a fully conformed heel pocket yet, and it will be more months before they do. I need to stick to rigid laces till then, to maintain the tension in the upper.

I still have yet to try these two shoes with the wider silicone laces yet.



With the eyelet size, the dress laces would pop straight back out, but the wider laces should stay put. Again, I don't need to convert both, but it would be nice to have one of these two walking shoes that works well with the silicone laces. I may try one the next time I have a long day out and about, and just take a pair of conventional laces with me in case I need to switch back.

 

[johnniegold]

I think you referred to heel slippage on this pair with a stiffer sole. I thought perhaps a tongue pad may help that issue.

 

[DesertIguana]

I prefer old school laces, as you can control the tightness of lacing.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

View attachment 1801453

I think you referred to heel slippage on this pair with a stiffer sole. I thought perhaps a tongue pad may help that issue.

Ahhh! Yes, you're quite right. The soles are too stiff on those for these laces to hold the shoe on the foot securely. However, to pre-stretch the laces tight enough to overcome that, would both leave too little stretch left for getting the foot in and out, and also make the shoe uncomfortably tight.

The upshot is, flexi laces need flexi soles. A tongue pad could well help where eyelets are too close together though, by forcing the top of the shoe open a little more. So potentially a solution for increasing the length of laces used, but rigid soles still need rigid lacing.