20+ Different Knots For Shoes To Keep You Stylish and Updated

Did you know that you can tie your shoes in a granny knot or in a double slip knot?

The granny knot isn’t named after an old grandma; instead, it is the shoelace knot used to tie the grain sacks together. If you wish to know more about such interesting yet quirky shoelace knots, then read on to know different ways to tie your shoe laces.

According to a survey, most people use a single style for tying their shoelaces their entire lives. The process of making your laces run through the holes or hooks of your shoe and tying them up in a subtle manner is known as shoe lacing.

A normal, six-pair-eyelets shoe can be tied in more than two trillion ways. Amazing, right?

The word ‘shoelace' is addressed by different names in different countries. In America, these long strings that keep your shoes intact on your feet are called shoestrings. In the United Kingdom, these are addressed by the name bootstrings.

Shoelaces are generally made up of cords or strings with one such string on each shoe. Their ends have a hard covering over them called aglets which keep the lace from becoming unraveled.

Each shoe has a series of hooks, anchors, or holes through which these shoelaces are passed and tightened so that the shoe can perfectly grip your foot.

You can loosen these laces to make getting in and out of the shoe easier. Laces can be tied in a plethora of ways, with the most common one being the simple bow style.

Read on to know more about ways of tying leather laces and standard laces such as the granny knot. Afterward, also check out 50+ best leg puns, jokes and one liners and 15 best presents for an 11-year-old.

Different Types Of Shoelace Knots

Here are some different types of shoelace knots.

Standard shoelace knot: This type of shoe lacing is known by two names: the bunny rabbit knot and the rather interesting loop, swoop and pull knot.

This method is indisputably the most popular way of tying a shoelace wherein you create a loop with one side of the lace and wrap the other side around the loop, pulling the loop through the hole made in between.

The ease of this way makes it the most popular one.

Reef shoelace knot: This type of shoelace knot is generally made when the two sides of the laces do not extend long enough to make a bow. It can be called a bunny rabbit knot with no bows. Such a shoelace knot is also called a square knot that can be used when you have broken shoelaces.

Double knot: In this method of tying shoelaces, one has to make a hoop with both sides and pull one side through the other one's bottom.

Freedom shoelace knot: For this, you need to make a circular shape and pass a loop through the front as well as the rear of the circle to secure the shoelace knot at its place.

Shoemaker’s knot: This process of tying shoelaces requires you to make a double shoelace knot as mentioned above. The only difference is that before tightening the shoelace knot, you need to pass two loops from the middle part one more time to tie the loose end.

Shoe clerk’s knot: This method makes use of the extra shoelace that hangs around after tying a conventional shoelace knot, thereby preventing it from getting dragged or getting under your feet. All you have to do is tie a conventional shoelace knot and tie the overhangs to the already present two loops.

Who invented shoelaces and knots?

The genesis of shoelaces dates back to 2000 BC in western Europe when Greek and Roman soldiers wore hide laces and sandals.

Shoelaces were patented in the 18th century (March 27, 1790) by Harvey Kennedy.

The oldest shoe ever dates back to 3500 BC and is named the Areni-1. This simple shoe had a leather structure with leather-made shoelaces that passed through the conventional holes made in it. Some other more complexly built shoes date back to 3300 BC that used lime bark strings as shoelaces.

A conventional knot requires the two sides to be tied in a simple hitch with the overhangs looped and then tied into another hitch. These loop sizes depend on the length of the shoelace and can be increased or decreased to shorten or lengthen the overhang.

These loops make this shoelace knot as sturdy as a double knot while making the shoe easy to untie by pulling the two ends.

Who invented shoes?

Archaeological expeditions have helped recover sandals that are older than 10,000 years. These sagebrush bark sandals, belonging to the 7000 and 8000 BCE, were excavated in the Fort Rock Cave, located in the Oregon state of the United States of America.

The art of shoemaking grew popular with the industrial revolutions that took place across the European vicinity during the mid-1700s. The art was commercialized with the setting up of warehouses and bulk making of shoes.

Shoemaking remained exclusive with selective households bearing the name of shoemakers. However, this changed by the end of the 19th century when mechanization of these shoe manufacturing warehouses led to large-scale production of the product. These factory-produced goods were seamless and undifferentiated which was not the case with the ones produced manually.

The mechanization of shoemaking was first witnessed during the Napoleonic wars when, for the first time, shoes were required to be produced in a large quantity for British Army soldiers.

Which country has the most stylish shoelace knots?

The sneaker trends of the late 20th century gave rise to different styles of shoe knot making.

Although shoelaces were being produced locally in the United States, the country imported a major chunk of the product from the overseas market.

Ethnic styles like braiding, which are single yet magnificent to look at, have grown popular amongst enthusiasts and shoe collectors. With the pop culture and with the ever-increasing demands of the youth, America has slowly started to become the hub of shoe marketing, and hence, shoe lacing.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for different knots for shoes, then why not take a look at why is the sea salty or 67 interesting facts about the saltiest lake in the world.