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 – this is the place!

Welcome!

G'day everyone, Ian Fieggen here, also known as “Professor Shoelace”. I'm a real human living in Melbourne, Australia. This website has no AI content – it's all built with “HI” (Human Intelligence) plus “HE” (Human Effort) over more than two decades.

Welcome to “Ian's Shoelace Site” – made by one human, for all humans.

Lacing Shoes

Contains over 100 × step-by-step shoe lacing tutorials, over 2,800 × shoe lacing photos, plus the interactive “Create-a-Lace” for designing your own lacing.

Tying Shoes

Contains 25 × shoelace knots (including my world's fastest “Ian Knot”), plus info on tying correctly so that they sit straight and stay securely tied – yet can be untied without jamming.

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, 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 ways that you, too, can support Ian.

Connect With Professor Shoelace

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

Today's Photo

11-Oct-2026

Today's pic from the archives was contributed by Alex L. in Apr-2010.

Black DC sneakers with white trim laced with purple & orange Lattice Lacing.

Two passes through the middle eyelets allows Lattice Lacing with only five eyelet pairs.

More Shoe Lacing Photos

What's New?

Updated “Over Under Lacing”

18-Jul-2026 – Slight tweak to add separate instructions for shoes with even or odd numbers of eyelet pairs.

Updated “Shoelaces As Seen In The News”

18-Jun-2026 – Added another 15 × shoelace news stories from 2025, featuring an airplane crash, a car burglar, a lawsuit, murders, celebrities, sportsmen, surgery – even a robot!

Removed Google ads

18-Jun-2026 – After 20 years of using Google ads to help pay the bills, these have finally been removed – thanks to an increase in visitors supporting me with donations.

Updated “Shoelaces As Seen In The News”

25-Apr-2026 – Added 17 × shoelace news stories from 2025, featuring accidents, airline passengers, an angry bird, goats, performance art, spaghetti, sportsmen – even a president.

Updated “Shoelace Construction”

17-Apr-2026 – Added gallery of shoelaces braided with different braid patterns that are available via my website's sponsors.

Updated “Create-a-Braid”

28-Mar-2026 – Changed to more accessible braid pattern icons, plus added separate spools to visualise braiding machine setup.

Updated “Shoelace Construction”

28-Feb-2026 – Updated the interactive shoelace braiding simulator to incorporate the more complex “Regular Braiding”.

Recent Visitor Feedback

just wanted to tell you that your site is lovely. I've been having a rough few weeks, feeling quite down. i randomly stumbled upon your site while looking at a “random website” website and it has brought me so much joy to see someone so passionate about something as silly as shoelaces.

– Smoet, Nebraska, USA, Oct-2026

Thank you very much for your website. I swear my shoelaces untied themselves everyday. I looked for different ways to tie shoelaces and found your website! I picked “Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot”. It looks quite fancy to me. I'm going to test it out for a few days and see how it holds up. I really appreciate it. Thanks!

– “An individual who used a knot on your website”, Oct-2026

I’m an 8th grade student in Maui, Hawaii. I love your website! It was a great way to pass 7th period. Very educational. You’re cool :)

– Azure J., Hawaii, Sep-2026

Last month, I came up with a tying method that I have been calling the Naoki Knot or Ian Knot Plus. It starts with the normal Ian Knot, then adds an extra finishing steps similar to the Turquoise Turtle Knot. The finished knot is the same as Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot.

The extra step can be performed continuously from the Ian Knot. While tying, I can decide either to finish immediately as an Ian Knot, or continue with the additional step for the secure version. From a completed starting knot, I can now tie the secure version in under four seconds.

I had also wanted for some time to turn the Ian Knot into a simple children's action song. This project finally gave me the opportunity to do that.

Video:
Naoki Knot (YouTube)

– Naoki T., Tokyo, Japan, Sep-2026

Ian's Comment: Naoki's derivative transforms my “fast” knot into my “secure” knot – and does so fairly seamlessly.

First thanks for this enormous and instructive work visible for us, the public.
...

Now, after having viewed Your site am able to build a good knot, finally after becoming 60 years.

– Thomas B., Muenchen, Germany, Sep-2026

Finally got the hang of the Ian knot, life/changing :) And still enjoying all the fun lacing methods with the step-by-step! Thanks for maintaining the website xx

– Michelle Y., Australia, Sep-2026

Thank you for your website!! I learnt how to tie my leather shoelaces securely thanks to you and my friend is really enjoying her halloween knot and the Ian knot.

– Barb & friend, England, Sep-2026

Hey Ian, my new Thorogood Heritage Moc Toes with steel toes and of course 550 paracord laces tied with the Better Bow Knot. These are 100% safe for work. Stayed tied all day long, 14 hour shift. Anyone who uses workboots at work should learn how to tie the Better Bow Knot. Keeps your footgear tied, keeps you safe.

– Brian A., Oregon, USA, Sep-2026