Welcome to Ian's Shoelace Site

Fun, fashion & science in the Internet's #1 website about shoelaces – and home of the Ian Knot, the world's fastest shoelace knot. If you want to lace shoes, tie shoes or learn about shoelaces, “Ian's Shoelace Site” is the place!

Lacing Shoes

The most extensive section of this website, including over 100 × step-by-step shoe lacing tutorials, 2,000 × shoe lacing photos, plus the interactive “Create-a-Lace” for designing your own lacing.

Tying Shoes

Contains 22 × shoelace knots, including my world's fastest “Ian Knot”, plus important info on preventing the “Granny Knot”, which causes shoelaces to sit crooked and come undone.

Learn About Shoelaces

Heaps of knowledge about shoelaces, including their construction, length calculations – even what the tips are called, as well as Ian's interviews, articles, reviews, Q&As and more.

About

Information about this website and the site's author, Ian Fieggen – including Ian's contact details. Also info on this site's sponsors plus various ways that you, too, can support Ian.

Connect With Professor Shoelace

Contact Ian Fieggen via e-mail or connect with “Professor Shoelace” via YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Gfycat or RSS feed.

Search This Site

Looking for something? This website has more than 300 pages – which can be daunting to wade through! Search the whole of Ian's Shoelace Site using Google Custom Search.

Latest Photo

09-Aug-2022

Shoe lacing photo high-res repost (originally posted in low-res on 07-Mar-2013).

Black Converse One-Stars with white trim laced with red & white Double Lacing (from Jayson A.)

Both colors stand out well against the black.

More Shoe Lacing Photos

Latest Video

27-Aug-2021 – Untying shoes without jamming

This is my first video for some time, showing why shoelace knots sometimes jam when untying, plus giving some tips for preventing such jams.

Watch video: Untying shoes without jamming

Watch video here

Watch on YouTube

What's New?

Winona Ryder answering questions for Harper's BAZAAR (image: YouTube) (image credit: Harper's BAZAAR)

Updated “Shoelaces As Seen In The News”

05-Aug-2022 – Added a news story about an escalator accident caused by a shoelace. Also, in a Q&A with Harper's BAZAAR, actress Winona Ryder explains why she was called a “shoelace baby”.

Updated “Double Starting Knot”

16-Jul-2022 – Updated all diagrams and photos of the Double Starting Knot to high-resolution, plus added a separate page with feedback from several visitors.

Updated “Starting Knot”

06-Jul-2022 – Updated all diagrams and photos of the Starting Knot to high-resolution, plus added a separate page with feedback from several visitors.

Updated “Crossed Ian Knot”

01-Jul-2022 – Updated all diagrams and photos of the Crossed Ian Knot to high-resolution, plus added feedback from a couple of visitors.

Brandon police car (stock photo: CBC/Radio-Canada)

Updated “Shoelaces As Seen In The News”

30-Jun-2022 – Added news story about a 25-year-old assailant armed with a shoelace discovering that a man almost 50 years his senior was no easy target.

Updated “Equality Knot”

29-Jun-2022 – Updated all diagrams and photos of the Equality Knot to high-resolution, including the “behind the scenes” gallery of my PUMA videoshoot.

Updated “Reef Knot”

21-Jun-2022 – Updated all diagrams and photos of the Reef Knot to high-resolution, plus added a separate page with feedback from various visitors.

Updated “One Handed Shoelace Knot”

21-Jun-2022 – Updated all diagrams and photos of the One Handed Shoelace Knot to high-resolution, plus added a separate page with feedback from various visitors.

Recent Visitor Feedback

I've used your website to relace every pair of shoes I've bought since I was 15 - I'm 32 now!

The donation isn't much but I wanted to show a bit of appreciation for the only website I've had bookmarked for most of my life!

– Nathan D., UK, Jul-2022

I see you've been maintaining your site for a long time. It reminds me a lot of the fun, helpful content that was available on the Internet when the World Wide Web was just getting started and it was more about people working on their passion projects.

– Olaf A., May-2022

You are good at what you do, you provide good things for what you do, and I can't find a better resource for catalogued ways to tie shoelaces anywhere on the internet. I didnt even know about the NASA space boot knot until your website, and it's quickly become my favorite to use.

– Damien, Georgia, USA, Apr-2022

Oh my God I found your site again! I thought I lost it forever when my computer fried six years ago. I'm glad you're still around! I have a bunch of nieces and nephews to send this site to now lol.

– Robert W., Mar-2022

Hey Ian! I’ve used your website since I was a teenager, I’m now in my 30s. Thank you so much for maintaining this incredible resource, and keeping the design as is. Every time I visit your website, I have a huge smile on my face. Cheers mate.

– Karim Y., Mar-2022