How to Straight Lace Your Boots

There are many ways to lace up a pair of boots. Most people lace a pair of boots with a simple crisscross pattern, which looks like X's. Another interesting style to try is the straight lace, where the laces form a ladder pattern on the boot. The straight lace pattern has the advantage of being easy to cut off should you injure your foot and need to have the boot quickly and gently removed.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Step 1

Thread the lace through the bottom two eyelets of the boot as normal, with the boot centered on the lace. The lace should form a horizontal bar across the outside surface of the boot.

Step 2

Take the right lace (Lace A) and thread it through the eyelet directly above. Make sure Lace A comes from underneath the eyelet.

Step 3

Pass Lace A horizontally across the top of the boot and down into the eyelet directly across on the left. The lace should form a parallel bar.

Step 4

Take the other lace (Lace B) and pass it underneath to the next available eyelet directly above. Thread it through the eyelet from underneath and horizontally across the top to the eyelet on the right. It should form another horizontal bar.

Step 5

Repeat the pattern, each time passing the lace underneath the boot to emerge two eyelets above, until there are no more eyelets.

Step 6

Tie laces together in a bow as normal.

Tips & Warnings

Straight lacing your boots gets rid of the diagonal crisscrosses underneath the surface of the boot which can put uncomfortable pressure on the top of your foot.

This method only works on boots with an even number of eyelets. If the boots have an odd number of eyelets, the straight lace method can only work if a set of eyelets at the top or bottom is left empty.

Article Written By Denise Bertacchi

Denise Bertacchi is a freelance writer with a degree in journalism from Southeast Missouri State University. She is a St. Louis suburbanite who has written for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Boys' Life, Wisconsin Trails, and Missouri Life.

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