Lacing studio

Why the way you lace matters

The same shoe can feel loose, tight or painful depending on how the lace runs through it. Lacing decides where the pressure goes. Cross the lace over a tender spot and it presses there all day; route it up the side instead and the pressure is gone. Runners, hikers and people with wide or high-arched feet solve most fit problems this way before buying another pair.

Which method for which problem

• Heel lifts out of the shoe: use the heel lock. The two small loops at the top pull the collar snug round the ankle.
• Pain on top of the foot or a high instep: use gap lacing and leave the crossing out over the sore area.
• Wide forefoot or bunions: run the lace straight up the sides for the first rows so the toe box can open.
• Sore or black toenail: the toe-relief method lets you lift the front of the shoe by pulling one end.
• Boots that work loose: ladder and army lacing hold their tension.
• A clean look on leather shoes: straight bar lacing shows only neat horizontal bars.

What length of lace to buy

Count the pairs of eyelets, measure across between the two rows and between one eyelet and the next, and the calculator adds up every stretch of lace in the pattern you chose plus enough to tie a bow. As a rough guide for trainers laced criss-cross: four pairs take about 70 cm, five about 90 cm, six about 110 cm, seven about 120 cm and eight about 140 cm. Patterns with more lace hidden under the flaps, such as bar lacing, need a little less; ladder lacing needs a good deal more.

Common questions

What do the dashed lines mean? They are stretches of lace that run underneath the eyelet flaps, where you cannot see them on the finished shoe. Turn them off to see what the shoe will look like.

My shoe has an odd number of eyelet pairs. Does bar lacing still work? Yes. The diagram adds one hidden diagonal so that both ends still finish at the top.

Do these work on boots with hooks? Yes. Treat each hook as an eyelet.