Shoe Laces

I’m writing about shoe laces because they bring such frustration!

Many years ago (about 15) I bought a pair of ankle lace-up granny boots, on clearance for $15 at The Wild Pair, a shoe store.

Sometime in the last 4 years one of the laces broke. Ok fine. Go buy a new pair. That became a problem.

We ended up only being able to replace them with laces way to long and much thicker than the original ones were. Kind of an ugly solution, but it did work. I double knotted a bow and stuffed the ends inside the top of the boot. Not the best, but worked.

Not long ago I found a pair of DKNY tall lace up boots on eBay. Really cool nice boots. They came in the mail. I put one on, snug nice great, couldn’t wait to break them in. They were new, never worn, display models. Ok so left one on, I put on the right one, and I was lacing them up, and low and behold, I had to take the laces all the way out, the right side lace was too short … even them up … whoops, can’t be done, it’s missing, part of the lace is missing, cut.

I emailed the seller and she was so kind and refunded me part of the sale. I didn’t expect or desire that, per se, it was kind. I just wanted a response that wasn’t mean and “so what”. She went beyond her duty.

Last evening we went out on a shoe-lace hunt. We came home exasperated. What’s online, then? Well, I finally found decent possibilities at Dr. Martens shoe site, but there is no way to know if something will fit. Not worth the nearly $5 to have a pair shipped … truly, I want the right laces, the ones that look right and actually can be laced in these boots. Smooth and slim and round and black. Tiny ends.

Why is it so difficult, you may wonder? It’s because these laces are very long. 14-sets-of-holes to go through. The holes are very small. Metal grommets. The laces they came with are smooth, and very delicate looking, though strong. The nearest type of lace like that is for dress shoes. Um, way, way, way too short.

Does no one make such a lace for replacement on boots? I mean they are fine little round, black laces. I have to see it in real life to know if it fits. I will not, no, cannot buy online such a device, unless it’s guaranteed that it’s the exact lace for this DKNY boot. Problem with that is, no one sells laces like that.

DKNY, why do you market something without supplying info on where to go to accessories those inevitable broken laces? Granted, I have no idea what design year these boots are from. But even so, I see lace-up boots for other designers on sale, with nary a replacement lace accessory around.

Another place then to look would be “shoe repair shops”. We have done that before, with no shoelaces as wanted, in the first pair of boots mentioned above.

So I’m reticent to gain any hope in thinking upon “shoe repair shops” in this “great quest for shoe laces”.

We did buy a pair of laces at Pay Less shoe store last night. $1.69, plus tax of course. Compare them? We had to buy them to do that. 1/4 of an inch or less, but just too big. The grommets on the boot would laugh at me if I tried to force that in.

At the Clarks shoe store at that mall, the lady had a pair she was sure would be small enough, but they weren’t and I knew they wouldn’t be, but she, unlike PayLess, offered to open them and make sure. Grand! All those “made in china” shoes smiled as we all saw that their “Bostonian” lace was too big, compared to the lace I brought along.

The “Journeys” shoe store in the mall was a joke, they brought out these thick flat white cotton laces … um, absolutely the wrong thing. Get a clue, when we say shoe laces for boots we mean, at least brown or black sporty looking, I can’t imagine y’all would “think thin, and fine”. But white sneaker laces? Ha.

Now perhaps the picture makes more sense. We tried shoe stores, departments stores, dollar stores. We could also try Target or K-mart, but really, even a shoe repair shop is a better choice, and that one I’m reticent to try.

Is this yet ANOTHER business I must start? “shoelaces.com” if you can’t find it here, we’ll make sure to find it for you. Sit back and wait for the pair of shoelaces you need to have!

I can’t believe all the time I’ve wasted looking for shoelaces in stores and online. It’s ridiculous. And still I can’t wear those lovely boots. 🙁