32 ways to lace shoes — who knew?

Last night I found out just how out of touch I really am. I stumbled across Ian’s Shoelace Site, which shows 32 different ways to lace shoes. And that’s only for shoes with eyelets. There are 20 more styles for shoes with lugs, and 18 different knots. I’ll wager everything you ever wanted to know about shoe lacing is there, in meticulous detail — not to mention all the stuff you didn’t know you didn’t know.

I’ve always laced shoes in the standard crisscross fashion (at least I thought it was standard). Sometimes I skip eyelets to take pressure off a certain spot, and sometimes I throw in a knot to keep an adjustment from slipping. How uncreative! How utterly boring and inefficient! Ian has a special lacing style for every need, every occasion.

I suppose teens, or parents of teens, might be familiar with some of the decorative styles. Ex-military folks might know about special ways to lace boots, and athletes might employ lacing designed for their particular sport. But I’ve been completely oblivious. Of course, I’ve never yearned to lace my shoes in a checkerboard pattern, but maybe someday I’ll need that one-handed lacing method for the disabled. Or not. There’s always Velcro.

Update, Dec 10, 2017: Ian’s been busy. The site now features 52 lacing methods.