How to tie shoes that stay tied

If your shoelaces keep coming undone, check how the bow is built before you blame the laces.

Many people tie a version called the granny bow. It looks almost right, but it sits crooked and works loose as you walk. The fix is one small change, and you keep the rest of your habit.

This article shows how to spot a granny bow, what engineers saw when they filmed laces coming undone, and how to tie a bow that holds. It ends with how to teach it to a child.

Check your bow first

Tie your shoe the way you always do. Pull it snug, then look down at the bow.

A good bow lies across the shoe, from side to side. A granny bow twists, so the loops point along the shoe, toward your toes and your heel. This quick test comes from Ian Fieggen, who has run Ian's Shoelace Site since 2003 (his first shoelace page went online in 2000). The site is a detailed reference that lists 25 shoelace knots.

If you are not sure, pull the two sides of the shoe apart or give it a gentle shake. A granny bow swings round to point toe to heel.

Why a granny bow comes undone

A shoelace bow is two knots stacked on top of each other. First you tie a simple starting knot. Then you tie a second knot with loops in it. That second knot is the bow.

Each knot twists the laces. If the second twist goes the opposite way to the first, the twists cancel out. You get a flat, balanced bow built on the reef knot, which is also called the square knot.

If the second twist goes the same way as the first, the twists add up. That is the granny knot. It twists instead of lying flat, and the movement of your foot works it loose. Knot tyers and surgeons have long known it is the weaker of the two.

Many people learned to tie their shoes once, as young children, from whoever was around. If that person tied a granny bow, the habit was passed on. Fieggen believes up to half of people may tie their laces this way. That is his estimate, not a measured figure. Few people are ever shown how to check, at home or at school.

What engineers found when they filmed laces

In 2017, a team of mechanical engineers at the University of California, Berkeley published a study of how shoelace knots fail. Professor Oliver O'Reilly and graduate students Christopher Daily-Diamond and Christine Gregg filmed a runner on a treadmill in slow motion. Then they ran controlled tests on a pendulum arm that struck a surface again and again, like a foot hitting the ground.

They found that two forces work together. Each time your foot hits the ground, the knot takes a jolt. During walking, a sensor under the knot measured about 6 to 8 times the acceleration of gravity. The jolts loosen the knot a little at a time.

At the same time, your leg swings and the free ends of the laces whip back and forth. That pulls lace through the knot. In the team's informal checks, neither force worked alone. Swinging the leg without touching the ground did not untie the knot. Neither did stomping the foot the same number of times.

Once slipping starts, it is fast. In the treadmill test, the granny-based knot changed little for many strides. Then it went from first slip to fully untied in one or two strides. Each stride took about one second. The reef-based knot did not come fully undone during the test.

The lab also found that heavier lace ends made knots slip faster. The team added weights rather than testing lace length. Still, longer loose ends carry more mass, so keeping them short is a sensible step.

The one-step fix

You do not need to learn a new knot. Keep your bow exactly as it is and change only the starting knot.

If you start by crossing the left lace over the right, cross right over left instead. If you start right over left, switch to left over right. Then tie the bow the way you always have.

This is the fix Fieggen recommends, because the starting knot is easier to relearn than the bow. You can also keep your start and wrap the bow the other way around the loop. Either works. Change one half only. If you flip both, you are back to a granny.

Tie it, pull it snug and check. The bow should now lie across the shoe. It may feel odd at first, until the new start becomes habit.

How to tie a secure bow from scratch

These steps follow the standard bow on Ian's Shoelace Site. If you already tie a bow, compare your steps with these. If you are left-handed, you can mirror every step, including the start.

1. Cross the left lace over the right. Tuck it under and pull both ends so the starting knot sits snug against the shoe.
2. Fold the right lace back on itself to make a loop. Pinch the base of the loop.
3. Take the left lace behind the loop, then bring it round to the front.
4. Push the left lace through the small hole you just made. Pull it out the other side as a second loop.
5. Hold one loop in each hand and pull them apart firmly.
6. Check the bow. It should lie across the shoe. If it points toe to heel, flip step 1 next time.

When to add a double knot

For a normal day, a balanced bow should hold. For running, sport, hiking or a small child's shoes, you may want more.

To double knot, tie your bow with fairly long loops. Cross one loop over the other, tuck it through the middle hole and pull both loops tight. Fix the bow underneath first. A double knot on top of a granny bow is still built on the weaker knot.

You cannot undo a double knot by pulling both free ends, as you would a bow. To untie it, pull firmly on just one lace end. If it holds, try the other end. If both hold, pick the knot apart with your fingers.

Another option is Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot. It is a bow where both loops are passed through the middle hole, so it holds more firmly. In Fieggen's own informal tests, which are not a published study, it needed almost twice the pull to undo as a standard bow.

If your bow is balanced and still comes undone, Fieggen suggests the laces may be too slippery. Cotton laces grip better.

How to teach a child

Most children are taught to tie their laces at around five years old, according to Fieggen. Younger children often cannot do it yet, and that is normal.

In a 2011 survey by the security software company AVG, 2,200 mothers in 10 countries, including the US and Canada, were asked which skills their children aged 2 to 5 had mastered. Only 9% said their child could tie their own shoelaces. These are mothers' self-reported answers, not tested skills.

Before you start, check your own bow. If it is crooked, fix it first, or you will pass the granny bow on. Most of these tips come from Fieggen's guide for teaching children.

• Try another method if the first one does not work. Different methods suit different children. The standard bow, the two-loop 'bunny ears' bow and the Ian Knot all make the same finished knot when tied correctly. Bunny ears is often taught wrong, so check the bow it makes.
• Practise off the foot. Put a shoe on a table, or wrap a lace around the child's thigh, so they are not bent over.
• Use training laces that are half one colour and half another, or mark the lace with a felt-tip pen. Then you can say 'the blue one goes over'.
• Sit or stand behind the child and reach around, so they see your hands from their own point of view. If you or the child is left-handed, sit in front and have them mirror you, including the starting knot.
• Use soft, wide laces made of cotton. They are easier to grip than thin, slippery synthetic ones.
• Untie the shoes every night, so the child does not force a foot into a tied shoe. Tying them each morning is daily practice.
• Check the result, then teach the check. A good bow lies across the shoe. Once the child knows this, they can test their own.