How to Straight Lace Shoes

Last Updated: October 21, 2021 Tested

For many people, shoes are an incredibly important part of an outfit. To take it even further, countless creative ways of lacing these shoes have been devised, adding an even more personal spin to an already expressive element of the wardrobe. Figuring out how these complicated but stylish lacing methods have been achieved, however, is no easy task. If you've ever wondered how to recreate the clean look of straight laces, here are a few simple ways to choose from.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Bar Lacing

1
Insert shoelace into the first eyelets of your first shoe. Point the toe of the shoe away from you. The holes farthest from you will be called the first eyelets, and will successively count up from there. With the shoelace on the outside of the shoe, insert the ends down into the first eyelets on both sides.
2
Make sure the shoelace ends are even. Pull both ends of the shoelace to their full length. Tug on whichever side is shortest until they are of an even length.You now have your first bar.

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3
Prepare to lace the second bar. Take the right end of the lace in your hand. Run it along the underside of the eyelets and then bring it up through the second eyelet on the right side. Do not skip an eyelet. You should not be able to see the shoelace between the eyelets.
4
Lace the second bar. Pull this same right lace straight across the shoe to the left side. Push it down through the second eyelet on the left side and pull it out until taught.
5
Prepare to lace the third bar. Take the left end of the shoelace and run it along the underside of the eyelets on the right side, skipping the second eyelet (which you have previously laced) until you reach the third eyelet. Bring it up through the third eyelet and pull until taught.
6
Lace the third bar. Pull the left lace straight across the shoe and push it down through the third eyelet on the right side. Pull until taught. You should now have three bars.
7
Prepare to lace the fourth bar. Take the lace that is now on the left side and run it along the underside of the eyelets from the second eyelet to the fourth, skipping the third eyelet which you have previously laced. Bring this left lace up through the fourth eyelet on the left side and pull through until taught.
8
Lace the fourth bar. Pull the left lace straight across the shoe and push it down through the fourth eyelet. Pull it through until taught.
9
Continue lacing. Repeat steps 5 through 8 until you reach the last eyelets nearest you. Remember:
- each time you run the lace beneath the eyelets you will skip one that has already been laced before you pull it up through one
- when you pull a lace across the shoe it will go down into the eyelet directly parallel to the one it came up through.
10
Finish off the lacing. Once you've reached the last eyelets, once again ensure that they are even. You may have to do a bit of adjusting further down the shoe.
11
Lace your other shoe. Repeat all of these steps in exactly the same way for your second shoe.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Easy Lacing

1
Insert shoelace into the first eyelets of your first shoe. With the toe of the shoe pointed away from you, the first pair of eyelets is the pair farthest from you. Insert the left end of the shoelace into the left eyelet and the right end into the right eyelet.^{[1]
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2
Finish right lace. Run your right lace underneath the right row of eyelets toward you, all the way to the last eyelet. Pull it up through the final eyelet.^{[2]
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3
Adjust the shoelace length. For this technique, the left lace is going to be doing all the work, so you want it to be much longer before you begin. Pull on the left lace until the remaining end of the right lace seems about long enough to tie a knot with when you are done. For now, make a rough estimate as you can adjust it more later.
4
Prepare to lace the second bar. Run the left lace toward you until you reach the next eyelet on the left side. Pull the lace up through this eyelet.
5
Lace the second bar. Pull the left lace across the shoe to the right side and push it down through the second eyelet on the right side. Pull the lace until it's taught. We will now refer to this lace as the "working lace."
6
Prepare to lace the third bar. Run the working lace toward you until you reach the next (third) eyelet on the right side. Pull the lace up through this eyelet.
7
Lace the third bar. Bring the working lace across the shoe to the left side. Push it down through the third eyelet on the left side. Pull the lace until it's taught.
8
Continue lacing. Using this same single lace, repeat steps 4 through 7 until you reach the last eyelet.
9
Adjust the lengths of the laces. Now that you've finished lacing, make sure once more that each lace is of approximately equal length. Pull on your working lace as far down the shoe as you need to go in order to make your non-working lace longer, or vice versa.
10
Lace your other shoe. Complete all of these steps on your second shoe.

Community Q&A

Question

Are there ways to tie it crisscross?

Community Answer

Yes, you can look up different patterns online. You can have different ones for different reasons. Maybe a tighter one for running, more support for hiking, etc.