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

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.

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.

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 effected my behavior ever since. I've double-knotted my shoelaces every time since then, usually remembering why. For about the last 57 years. Once 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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

Animated: <https://www.animatedknots.com/shoelace-bow-knot-fieggen-meth...>

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

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

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

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

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.