Ian's Shoelace Site
fieggen.com125 points by righthand 14 hours ago
125 points by righthand 14 hours ago
A few years ago I discovered that many brands (but I like Skechers) make "hands-free" shoes, with no laces or velcro, just hidden elastic, and a stiff heel so that you can literally step into your shoes and walk away without ever touching them. They actually fit better than laced shoes.
Changed my life. I recommend highly.
I recently wrote an article about the Ian Knot, and what I’ve done with all the extra time I’ve gained from learning it:
https://blog.klungo.no/2025/12/31/two-years-of-the-ian-knot/
I've been tying my shoes using the Ian knot for years (decades??) now. Makes your laces sit a bit funny compared to regular, but my shoes never come untied by accident. Highly recommend trying it out if you have this problem even occasionally. Once you have the muscle memory down, it's a nice minor life upgrade.
Makes your laces sit a bit funny compared to regular
If you have inadvertently been tying granny knots, you may notice:
1) Instead of the bows hanging to the sides, they naturally want to hang along the length of your show (one pointing diagonally away from you, and the other diagonally towards you).
2) Your shoelaces get undone often, unless you do a double knot.
The fix (whether you tie your bow using the regular way, bunny ears, or Ian Knot) is to reverse the direction of your initial knot.
If you watch this video I made, you will see that the Ian Knot (when done according to the instructions on Ian's site) results in the laces sit just how they should: https://youtu.be/JaBmehtalAY
I never mastered the most common single loop method; it never made sense to me to have an asymmetrical way to tie a symmetrical knot, so I used the bunny ears with two loops, until I learned about the Ian knot with zero loops, and it's a very easy and quick way to tie your shoes.
The resulting knot is the same with all of them, however. Either the regular knot or the granny knot, depending on how you do them.
The end result is the same as the regular way of tying it. perhaps you are doing a https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/crossedianknot.htm by mistake
As a way to keep kids from accidentally making a granny knot instead, which will not stay tied, it's pretty decent.
I have been using the Secure variant for the last 10 years. It's effective, in that time my shoelaces have become loose precisely zero times, even though the knot is otherwise easy to untie.
I started using the Berluti knot last year, and it has never failed me. It takes a bit longer to tie, but it has never failed me. It is also easy to get undone without making another knot out of itself.
The Secure variant seems to be a slightly easier/quicker knot. I might give it a try. :)
What the Internet should be.
I found this looking for a more secure knot (I did; Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot). What I wasn't expecting was how strange it would be to be as skilled at tying my shoelaces as a four-year-old.
I use the fast normal knot for shoes I am going to tie/untie a lot and the secure knot for everything else.
It is the best way to tie shoelaces (and similarly knotted things). It takes a while to get used to, but it’s so worth it. It works! Unlike every other shoelace knot you’ve ever tied.
I’ve used this site twice, most recently last week for Lock Lacing. I had to upsize my Fuego dance shoes because they don't come in wide sizes. Consequently the heels were slightly loose; everything else was fine. Customer service recommended Lock Lacing which worked and tightened the heel ever so slightly but enough.
Reminds me of inter-dimensional cable
Some previous discussions:
2023 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37646964
"Secure" 2024 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42155457
"Ian" 2021 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27728002
"Granny" 2021 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26867300
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