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Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot (https://www.fieggen.com)

585 points by mooreds 2 days ago | 222 comments | View on ycombinator

jonathanlydall 1 day ago |

I only realized in my 30s that I had been tying my shoelaces wrong my whole life and a super minor change in my method has changed them from coming undone multiple times per day (unless double knotted), to instead staying tied the whole day with just a standard shoelace knot [0] (also on Ian's site).

This article's web page actually has the essential note:

> NOTE: If your finished knot comes out crooked (eg. loops pointing heel-to-toe), it's probably because you tie your Starting Knot the opposite way to mine. This will result in an un-balanced knot, which sits crooked and comes undone more easily. See my Granny Knot page for more information.

Back when I still used to browse Imgur, there was a post illustrating how to identify and fix this easy to make mistake. It turns out that I was starting with the lace left-over-right as opposed to right-over-left (or vice-versa, not sure off-hand).

This quite literally changed my life, just a small muscle memory tweak and now my laces easily stay tied the whole day with a regular knot which is also super easy to release as well.

[0]: https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/standardknot.htm

Edit:

I see he has a page dedicated to this mistake here: https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/grannyknot.htm

lee_ars 1 day ago |

Stumbling across Ian's site almost two decades ago was kinda-sorta life-changing, because I'd been tying the "granny knot" my whole life and had to resort to double-knotting to keep my damn shoes tied.

Ditched the granny knot for the Ian's Secure Knot (https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm), and have been using that ever since for every pair of laced shoes I own.

alper 1 day ago |

I use Ian's (Fast) Knot and that's good enough for me.

https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknot.htm

nunez 1 day ago |

If you love this, you'll love learning about tying huarache running sandals:

- http://borntorun.org/shop/howtotie.html

- https://xeroshoes.eu/pages/tarahumara-sandals

- https://importantbutnotatall.wordpress.com/2011/08/22/huarac...

Infinitely many ways to tie these.

I've been rocking these almost daily for three years now. No other sandals like it. My feet feel extremely free.

They are also extremely easy to make; all you need is soling material, barge cement (if you're slapping two soles together), paracord and scissors.

Vibram soles can be had on Etsy or from cobblers. You'll probably want a molded EVA midsole if you want arch support; I haven't made sandals with any, so YMMV.

Leather's a great upper and can be found at leather shops (Tandy's here in Houston is great, and they deliver). You can also use EVA or the inside of a bottom sole as an upper for more friction.

I primarily use these for walking. (They're awesome for running; my knees, not so much.) The arches in my feet are as flat as tables. Getting the knots right enough to prevent the heel strap from stretching out was a massive challenge that I recently figured out. Once I did, these became unbeatable.

I've been debating making a video on the entire process. I'll do it if there's enough interest here. (I don't post on Reddit anymore.)

delichon 1 day ago |

When I was six or seven my older brother untied my shoelaces when I wasn't looking, and I tripped on them and almost fell down. This was apparently a traumatic event for me since it has affected my behavior ever since. I've double-knotted my shoelaces every time since then, usually remembering why. For about the last 57 years. When I was about 12 the same brother tried it again and failed due to the double knot. It was a moment of triumph.

But the double knot still sometimes comes untied somehow so I've never been entirely happy with it. Maybe if I take the effort to overcome my muscle memory and learn Ian's knot, it will quell the PTSD from being victimized at a young age and I can find inner peace.

xp84 1 day ago |

I adopted this about a decade ago as what I tie shoes with, and I have done it for things like my kids' athletic shoes. And the advice about the accidental granny knot[1] is really life-changing. For anyone whose bow sits vertically after tying and whose shoes come untied spontaneously, you need to spend the 5 minutes to understand this. It's a free life upgrade.

On a related note, I have taken to replacing standard shoelaces on all my shoes as soon as I buy them with these elastic shoelaces with buckles[2]. You don't even have to unbuckle them, basically all your shoes become slip-ons. Probably not applicable if you're playing basketball or running track, but they work fine, look clean, and completely remove the need to ever tie laces. Highly recommend and you can buy them for like $1 each from sites like aliexpress or temu, I'm sure Amazon has them for $7 or so too.

[1] https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/grannyknot.htm

[2] https://www.aliexpress.us/w/wholesale-elastic-shoelaces.html...

dtj1123 1 day ago |

I switched to Ian's original shoelace knot about ten years ago. It's saved me something like four hours of shoelace time since then. Bloody brilliant.

SwellJoe 1 day ago |

I always use this site as a canonical example of The Good Internet. The kind of site that is rare today but used to be most of the internet, and we're all worse off for the change.

Lightweight handmade HTML and CSS. Very little JavaScript. The site is fast as hell, instant transition between pages, it'd make a React SPA blush.

The URLs don't change. The navigation is familiar and unchanging. Back button works as expected. Bookmarks into the site don't break.

It costs him almost nothing to run, so he isn't compelled to fill the pages with bullshit ads that disrupt or interrupt. It's got a handful of ad banners at the top and bottom, as ads used to be. I'd prefer it had no Google ads, since surveillance is part of the deal one makes with Google, but it's not the worst offense.

Edit: Also, because it uses core/standard web technologies exclusively, he has never been required to change it to keep it working or update a bunch of stuff for security reasons. Maintenance cost is effectively zero...whenever he wants to work on the the site, he can. He's never been compelled to drop everything to perform npm acrobatics to get a security update rolled out.

dimastopel 1 day ago |

I use the Ian Knot [0] (also called the World's Fastest Shoelace Knot) with my Vivobarefoot. Moved to it from Bunny Ears method at the age of 45. Never thought I'll switch the way I tie my shoelaces at such and age.

[0] https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknot.htm

hx833001 1 day ago |

This is the best knot. Looks amazing aesthetically and simply does not come undone. Unless you want it to, in which case a quick pull on one end unties it instantly.

rndz 1 day ago |

More than 10 years ago, somebody shared this clip with me: https://youtu.be/zAFcV7zuUDA?is=QDFb5Wxd_tJ-pJ61

Been tying my shoelaces like this ever since.

skogstokig 1 day ago |

This is very similar to the Berluti shoelace knot. A plus is that the knot lies horizontal and is symmetrical, while still being able to untie like a regular shoelace knot.

https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/berluti-knot.htm https://youtu.be/ds-EtA4Uw6s?si=cWFXylbmamqCmtw6

stronglikedan 1 day ago |

That's a lot of work. Just reverse the first foldover you make from the direction you were taught as a kid, but do everything else the same (i.e., square knot). If the bow ends up perfectly horizontal to your foot, then you did it right, and it likely won't come undone.

Ian's has it's place in like camping and hiking and such, but for everyday use, it wastes precious seconds and you have to have the dexterity of a surgeon to pull it off efficiently.

apolo64 about 15 hours ago |

I've spent my life doing a weird fast knot I learned from somebody in middle school and just found out it was invented by this man. Thank you Ian !

https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknot.htm

hangonhn 1 day ago |

I've used this knot for almost 2 decades now since learning about it from this exact website. It looks really nice, easy to take apart on purpose, and has never come undone. I run 4 to 5 times a week and used to run marathons. That's literally 10k+ miles over that timespan and it has never come apart unintentionally.

It's also just so simple to learn.

abustamam 1 day ago |

I tie my shoe laces with Ian knot. I know it by muscle memory.

But when I try to tie something that isn't facing me (like my daughter's hat) then suddenly I completely forget how to tie any knot except good ol square knot.

jaggederest 1 day ago |

If you like that, you'll really like https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/doublehelixlacing.htm

Basically, it reduces the friction so you can yank once to get your laces perfectly tight, or pull upwards to loosen them, instead of having to adjust each section independently. Combined with the double lock knot, it's ideal for high boots or above the knee boots with ~14-20 eyelets like the tall doc martens.

alessivs 1 day ago |

I've been using this shoelace knot on all kinds of laced shoes–even those featuring bad quality, tubular, inflexible, shoreline convenience shop-like laces since 2010-ish; in fact, I've found it to be the only efficient knot that works on those kinds of laces and guarantee several hours of security. Despite not being optimized to train procedural memory, I made sure to enter the lacing procedure in an Anki-like application (called SuperMemo before its decline) so I could recall how to do it over the years to this day. Other people have benefited from my epiphany as I've taught them this knot. I consider this knot a fundamental life skill, comparable to learning to ride a bike or change a bulb.

NyxWulf 1 day ago |

This is an interesting knot, the thing with knots though, you have to spend enough time with them to get familiar with tying them blindfolded from memory. My experience is most people don't care enough to do it.

So I have a simple alternative to tying my shoes that you can teach and learn easily. Knots are all about the number of turns or wraps, so when tying your shoes instead of crossing the laces over once, do it twice. When you wrap around the loop, do that twice too. You may have to try it to understand, but it is easy and readily understandable to anyone who can already tie their shoes. The best part is the way you tighten it down and untie are are exactly the same as you have always done. It almost never comes untied, but still releases easily.

chardan965 1 day ago |

Happy to chime in and say that years ago now I learned both Ian's Fast Knot and Ian's Secure Knot, and when I use shoes that I have laces, I enjoy both!

Here's my story about the secure knot: I used to do a lot of road cycling, and I got back from my first 100mi/day ride pretty tired and went to untie my shoes. I couldn't, because I'd used the granny knot I learned when I was a kid-- so I wound up cutting them off. I'd learned Ian's Fast Knot before then, and decided to see about the Secure Knot. Well, happy to say, over the next 6+ century rides, Ian's Secure Knot was a dream-- it stayed put the entire day and always came undone for me-- a TERRIFIC knot!

zenoprax 1 day ago |

Alternative view: it works best for flatter laces. I have a pair of running shoes with thicker round laces that don't stay tied unless I use the traditional method.

I'm curious about the physics involved to cause such an obvious and singular failure.

nickzelei 1 day ago |

I did a double take seeing this on the front page. I came across this website only yesterday after searching how to properly lace a heel-lock. I bought a new pair of shoes and my right shoe wants to slip out of the heel ever so slightly.

As a result, I came across this absolute gem of a website! Glad to see it here as it's a wealth of knowledge. Who knew there were so many ways to tie and lace up shoes. There's even methods to design your own! Amazing.

jjice 1 day ago |

Learned this about five years ago on HN and it's the only way I've tied my shoes since. It's so fast and perfect every time. It's worth the ten minutes in your living room learning to tie your shoes again like a child!

txhwind 1 day ago |

This is the first shoelace knot my parents taught me. We call it "butterfly knot". It's always my default choice with muscle memory, unless the shoelace is not long enough to create the "bufferfly wings". It's secured enough for daily use, and easy to release. Also the best choice for apron knot.

kobieps 1 day ago |

I learnt about this knot 16 years ago from a comment on cpbotha's blog :

https://cpbotha.net/2010/04/07/weekly-head-voices-20-a-lamar...

It has changed my life. I was also part of mountain rescue at the time, and nobody in the team knew about it. Now everyone swears by it.

So if you're part of any kind of first responder team - please tell your colleagues about this knot!

cactacea 1 day ago |

Highly recommend the book Fixing Your Feet if you found this useful, it is a gold mine of helpful info. I used to get really awful blisters even on short hikes but after applying some of the lacing techniques from this book I don't get blisters at all.

https://www.fixingyourfeet.com/fixing-your-feet/

sethammons 1 day ago |

https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/betterbowknot.htm

This is my go-to knot. Boots and shoes. They never come undone and a single tug undoes the knot. Said bye bye to the double knot years ago.

lowercased 1 day ago |

I just switched to slip-ons the moment I could buy my own shoes.

nunez 1 day ago |

This is a doubled-up version of Ian's Knot: https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknot.htm

I've been using this knot for years; I want to say since college (at least 10 years now). It's stupid fast to do once you learn it and it doesn't slip off ever.

Highly HIGHLY recommend learning it.

waltbosz 1 day ago |

I want to shoot a video and get expert feedback on the knot I invented for tying my shoes. It's fast to tie, is easy to untie, and very secure. It has never come untied on its own in all my years of using it.

It's tad unconventional looking for a shoe lace knot, but never has anyone every commented on it.

Looking at knots again, I guess it's just a slip knot.

liendolucas 1 day ago |

It never occurred to me that I could tie shoes with a different knot. This is excellent. It takes a bit of practice to undo a lifetime habit of tying my shoes with a weak knot. Well worth it!

For some reason I have a pair of sneakers that they will always untie way many more times than any other shoes that I ever had, no matter how hard you make the regular knot. No more!

lwansbrough 1 day ago |

I learned his fast knot about a decade ago and never looked back. It's probably saved me dozens of seconds over that time.

DanTheManPR 1 day ago |

It's just a good knot. The only downside is that it is very slightly more complex than a regular shoelace knot (you pass-through both loops instead of just one). But otherwise, it's only upsides: completely secure, unties exactly as easily and quickly as a regular shoelace knot, and it even lays more horizontally than a regular shoelace knot.

0xbadcafebee 1 day ago |

And if you're really into nerdy efficiency, you get velcro shoes.

cpfohl 1 day ago |

Switched to this knot a few years back for any day when we're walking/hiking a lot. I also tie my children's shoes this way if they're having a struggling day.

If anyone's playing with this you may find that after you tie the loops together they're sitting funny; you basically have to swap the sides the loops sit on!

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brikym 1 day ago |

I love the cute little page navigation buttons. I learned this knot ten years ago and I love it. Pro tip is to make sure the loops are longer than the ends otherwise the ends have more tension and will loosen the knot.

tyleo 1 day ago |

I learned the fast shoelace knot from this site years ago. Highly recommend it: https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknot.htm

It’s both functional and a great party trick.

frankmatranga 1 day ago |

I have truly never had a shoe come untied after switching to this knot years ago. My friends think I’m crazy when I rave about shoelaces to them and try to get them to see the light. Jokes on them! They’ll be left behind re-tying their shoes till the last day their feet walk the earth.

twodave 1 day ago |

Runner here. I found some time ago that starting out the classic shoelace tie right-hand dominant and finishing it left-hand dominant results in a very stable knot. Lacing them high enough to keep the ends short helps too. It has been thousands of miles since my last loose shoelace.

proee 1 day ago |

My problem with this knot, is going from step 2 to 3, I get a bit of slippage from the orginal starter knot (step 1). For my running shoes, getting the tightness just right is critical, so not sure how to dial this in?

snitty 1 day ago |

I've been using this knot for a decade or so, and my shoes have come untied twice. Both times I stepped on a loose end and pulled it open. It's incredible

netfortius 1 day ago |

To me untying laces, so I can take my shoes off ASAP, its far more important than the reliability of the knot. I just need to pull an end, and free my feet, without things tangled by mistake.

gcanyon 1 day ago |

Did the Klutz book of Knots first popularize this knot? The method they gave is different, but I think it's the same. It's been forty-some years...

raphaelrk 1 day ago |

According to my App Store history, on May 30, 2010, I downloaded the app "Ian's Laces — How to tie and lace shoes (Lite)". Since then, I've very rarely had to tie my shoes :)

johsole 1 day ago |

Like many I also discovered this about 10 years ago and love.

One other thing I've been doing lately is also to use bar lacing instead of cross lacing. A small change that makes shoes much more comfortable.

jmbwell 1 day ago |

One of my favorite artifacts of the pre-platform era of the web. Valuable stuff presented clearly … all clearly handmade with care. Not a monetized journey conversion experience in sight

amelius 1 day ago |

But when will we have Marty's self-tying shoes?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liI1E_ZZV5w

zeeveener 1 day ago |

I think I've evolved beyond knots and just accepted that elastic laces are my future for all but my proper use-for-high-intensity running shoes.

orphea 1 day ago |

You can also tie two knots but in the opposite directions:

https://youtu.be/8DBhTXM_Br4?t=1711 (Veritasium)

arcticgeek 1 day ago |

I find taking the rabbit around the tree twice also works well.

brandonpelfrey 1 day ago |

Friend shared this site with me like 10+ years ago, I've been using this knot ever since. Kind of amazing it's so generally unknown given how good it is.

nticompass 1 day ago |

I learned about this site from the TV show "Going Deep with David Rees" (episode 2)! I recommend that show if you haven't seen it.

fdr 1 day ago |

I've been tying this for years. Good knot. I only have failures if I hit a snag (and no easy-release knot is going to be able to get around that)

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kernel_sanders 1 day ago |

My kids learned to tie their shoes this way from this site and never knew differently. They're 20 and 17 now.

layman51 1 day ago |

I have some athletic shoes that come undone so easily and I think this knot will help me out a lot.

calini 1 day ago |

Eyy, I stumbled upon this website when I was 10, glad to see it’s still up!

LeoPanthera 1 day ago |

I started buying laceless shoes about a decade ago and I’m never going back.

yuppiepuppie 1 day ago |

Best investment in the last 5 years for me - elastic shoelaces. Never have to tie my shoes again

t1234s 1 day ago |

I always refer to this site when I get a new pair of Adidas to get them laced up cool.

adm4 1 day ago |

yep... I remember the day I saw a short ted talk explaining the correct knot. I had been doing it wrong for decades. thanks for even more knots to try.

fl0ki 1 day ago |

Been using this knot exclusively since 2013, it's stood the test of time.

cryber 1 day ago |

I have been doing this for...12 years to great success

mistyvales 1 day ago |

Wasn't this just posted?

carterschonwald 1 day ago |

the moment this clicked after reading it a few years ago its been my daily driver. that resource is a treasure

vrganj 1 day ago |

Great knot and amazing site. It has a distinct "old internet" feel to it, and I mean that as nothing but a compliment. I miss those days, pre platforms capturing everything and making us angry at each other for their engagement metrics.

oldandboring 1 day ago |

Learned the Ian knot back in my early 20s (25 years ago now). Pound for pound this is easily in my top 10 highest value things I've ever done/learned. My shoes do NOT come untied anymore, period, ever.

Funny thing is, if you don't know how to tie it, you probably just notice how it looks when it's done (almost exactly like the granny bowtie) so you (understandably) assume it's just a different method to arrive at the same result, like how bunny-ears and rabbit-goes-around-the-tree do. Of course it's not the same result at all.

kimjune01 1 day ago |

oh this again, i found this on stumbleupon circa 2007

thefz about 23 hours ago |

Ian's works wonders for running shoes, but alas tying it requires a lot of free string, and sometimes whati is left after looping for heel lock is not enough.

xdennis 1 day ago |

This is similar to how I ties my shoes, without the double twist though.

Even as a kid, I thought of it as a problem decomposition:

1) tie a knot

2) fold ends in half

3) treat the folded strings as a single string and go to step 1 and exit

dang 1 day ago |

Related. Others?

Ian's Shoelace Site - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48288156 - May 2026 (2 comments)

Ian's Shoelace Site - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46848231 - Feb 2026 (72 comments)

Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42155457 - Nov 2024 (21 comments)

Ian's Shoelace Site - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37646964 - Sept 2023 (64 comments)

An Interview with Ian Fieggen, Shoelace Expert - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35604020 - April 2023 (2 comments)

Ian's Shoelace Site - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35377589 - March 2023 (4 comments)

Ian Knot (2003) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27728002 - July 2021 (66 comments)

The “Granny Knot” - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26867300 - April 2021 (255 comments)

C.I.A. Lacing (2014) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24091391 - Aug 2020 (89 comments)

Ian's Shoelace Site - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21153182 - Oct 2019 (2 comments)

Ian Knot - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16454796 - Feb 2018 (47 comments)

Ask HN: How many times will the shoelace story be submitted? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14105633 - April 2017 (4 comments)

Ian's Shoelace Site - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13399095 - Jan 2017 (116 comments)

Shoelace knots - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10200917 - Sept 2015 (43 comments)

Shoe Lacing Methods - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9966073 - July 2015 (5 comments)

The "Granny Knot" - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7107814 - Jan 2014 (1 comment)

Why shoelaces come undone - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3671112 - March 2012 (1 comment)

Shoelace Knots - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1914731 - Nov 2010 (1 comment)

Fast. Easy. Clean. Shoelace Knot. - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1063086 - Jan 2010 (41 comments)

How to tie world's fastest shoelace knot - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=111756 - Feb 2008 (11 comments)

nikolay 1 day ago |

That's how I've been doing it since I was a kid (in the '80s) without anyone telling me about it. It's interesting how people put their names on some common-sense stuff! Disgusting!

cubefox 1 day ago |

I'm still hoping we could collectively agree that it's childish to view technologically superior Velcro as childish, and then replace shoelaces with Velcro.

emsign 1 day ago |

Ian Fieggen's fast knot changed my life.

ChrisArchitect 1 day ago |

Some previous discussion:

Secure knot 2024 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42155457

General Shoelace Site

4 Months ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46848231

burnt-resistor 1 day ago |

"Double Slip Knot" (ABOK 1219 p. 221) is the canonical name with prior art. Calling it [your name] knot is pompous "discovery" of lands already occupied revisionist history. The main problem with it is that the free ends and loops cannot be balanced easily like a standard Bow Knot (ABOK 1214 p. 220). A Bow Knot may also be fixed by adding an opposing Half Knot ("The Shoeclerk's Knot" (ABOK 1215)) while losing the slip feature that the Double Slip Knot retains.

undefined about 8 hours ago |

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brador 1 day ago |

Double cross tuck is still the champ. Nothing comes close to its simplicity and hardiness. Zero fidliness unlike this nonsense.

edgardurand 1 day ago |

[flagged]

john4569 1 day ago |

[dead]

Lapsa 1 day ago |

[dead]