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One thing they don’t tell you about parenting is how much of it you’ll spend telling your kids to put on or take off their shoes. (Not including the additional time you’ll spend telling them to put the shoes away where they belong.) In an effort to smooth out this surprisingly difficult daily transition, I recently bought my 9-year-old son elastic shoelaces, so he’d be able to slip his hi-top Nikes on and off without tying and untying them.
The next day I ordered some for myself, and I can’t remember the last time I made a more satisfying purchase.
It’s not like I struggle with tying my own shoes—I’ve even graduated from the “two bunny ears” method to “around the tree”!—but it is true that I am now middle aged, which means I enjoy bending over to do things even less than I used to. If I am wearing low top sneakers, I can usually manage to tie them just loosely enough that I can take them on and off without undoing any knots or sitting down, but it’s a lot tougher to do that with hi-tops or, especially, all-canvas shoes like Converse or my current pair of super flexible, minimalist “barefoot” shoes.
But not so once you swap out the cloth laces for elastic ones. They look just like regular cotton laces, so no one will know your lazy little secret, but they have a ton of stretch, transforming even the stiffest or most pliable shoes into low effort slip-ons. I can now pull off my canvas shoes by stepping on the heel with my opposite foot, and pull them on as easily as putting on slippers. And the extra give in the laces is a benefit when you’re wearing them too—they still fit you snugly, but the laces don’t put any pressure on the top of your foot, making your shoes feel both lighter and more comfortable.
After a few weeks with my stretchy laces, I’m seriously considering upgrading all my other shoes too—they come in all colors, and they even make them for dress shoes, which are extra annoying to take off, not to mention infamously difficult to keep tied (if you’re me). Upgrade of the week? Upgrade of my entire life.
