Category: Barefoot Sandal Tying

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Ultra-minimalist Fisherman

Ultra-minimal barefoot sandle tying style

Similar to the Ultra-minimalist Hitch style, it’s a single lace barefoot sandal tying pattern. Add a Fisherman’s knot and you have something comfy, without a knot at the top of your foot.

Once you get the tension just right, you slip ’em on and off in a second. People use this tying style for everything from walking to running marathons.

First, a few tying tips and notes:

Tying the Lace knot:

This is the knot we most commonly use, especially with our 100% polyester laces.

The “Lace Bead”:

This is the smallest “knot” you can make for your Xero Shoes.

Tying a Figure-8 knot:

If you have our original laces with the nylon core, you’ll want to use this knot.

Lacing tips:

The basic running sandal tying pattern

Ultra-minimalist Fisherman Tying Style

(this video was made with our old name, from our old site, Invisible Shoes)

Step-by-Step instructions coming soon!

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Ultra-minimalist Hitch

Minimalist Sandal Tying Style - Xero Hitch

Minimalist Sandal Tying Style - Xero Hitch

Perhaps the simplest tying style for minimalist running sandals there is!

In fact, for some it feels TOO simple

Once you get the tension just right, you slip ’em on and off in a second. People use this tying style for everything from walking to running marathons.

First, a few tying tips and notes:

Tying the Lace knot:

This is the knot we most commonly use, especially with our 100% polyester laces.

The “Lace Bead”:

This is the smallest “knot” you can make for your Xero Shoes.

Tying a Figure-8 knot:

If you have our original laces with the nylon core, you’ll want to use this knot.

Lacing tips:

The basic running sandal tying pattern

Ultra-minimalist Hitch Tying Style

(this video was made with our old name, from our old site, Invisible Shoes)

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Xero Loop

xero-loop

This is another great slip-on tying style for Xero Shoes.

The loop in the front gives you some fun decorative options.

Once you get the tension just right, you slip ’em on and off in a second. People use this tying style for everything from walking to running marathons.

First, a few tying tips and notes:

Tying the Lace knot:

This is the knot we most commonly use, especially with our 100% polyester laces.

The “Lace Bead”:

This is the smallest “knot” you can make for your Xero Shoes.

Tying a Figure-8 knot:

If you have our original laces with the nylon core, you’ll want to use this knot.

Lacing tips:

The basic running sandal tying pattern

Xero Loop Tying Style

Step-by-step instructions coming soon!

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Xero Basic

barefoot sandal tying -- Xero Basic

This is the tying style we use for our Custom-Made Xero Shoes.

Once you get the tension just right, you slip ’em on and off in a second. People use this tying style for everything from walking to running marathons.

First, a few tying tips and notes:

Tying the Lace knot:

This is the knot we most commonly use, especially with our 100% polyester laces.

The “Lace Bead”:

This is the smallest “knot” you can make for your Xero Shoes.

Tying a Figure-8 knot:

If you have our original laces with the nylon core, you’ll want to use this knot.

Lacing tips:

The basic running sandal tying pattern

Xero Basic Tying Style

Same thing, reversed image

Barefoot Sandal TyingClick here to download step-by-step instructions for the Xero Basic.

 

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Randy Kreill’s Marathon Huarache Tying Technique

Xero Shoe customer Randy Kreill the opposite of me.

I’m a “short sprinter”. The 100m and the 60m (indoor) are my races of choice. I run a 200m under protest. And, yes, I’m also a “short sprinter” in that I’m 5’5″ 😉

Randy, on the other hand, is a tall, ultra-runner, and has run 50k in his 4mm Connect barefoot sandals.

Personally, I don’t even like to DRIVE 50k.

Randy is also one of those guys who likes to experiment. He started with the basic huarache tying pattern, but tweaked it to something he uses for his long-distance runs. It’s not a slip-on/slip off style, but you can lace it up pretty quickly. It has a bit of a toga-style look about it. And one thing it does nicely is pull the ankle holes up around your foot.

Randy Kriell's huaraches running sandal tying

If I were going to use this style (just the tying style…trust me, I won’t ever consider running ultra-distances), there are two things I’d consider changing.

  1. Add another knot under the outside ankle hole once you’re confident that you have the various lace lengths correct. If you do this, you’ll have to adjust the lengths, since adding a knot will shorten the toe strap or heel strap, depending on how you tie it. What this will do is further “lock in” the lacing.
  2. Coat those ankle knots with a layer of epoxy or Shoe Goo. While this style pulls the ankle holes off the ground nicely, the knots add a bit of extra material that’s closer to the ground. Add this to the fact that when people are just starting out with long-distance barefoot-style running, they tend to lose their form when they get tired. If you really lose it, you could end up heel-striking or scraping your feet a bit. If you do either of those, you could put some friction on those knots under the ankle holes. The Shoe Goo or epoxy will add some extra protection to the laces in those spots.

One of my favorite things about the barefoot running / minimalist footwear movement is that people are experimenting and coming up with more ideas and improvements to 15,000 year old ideas (like barefoot sandals) in the last 2 years than there have been in the last 14,998 years.

Keep it up everyone.

And good luck, Randy, on those amazing runs!

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A new way to tie your huarache running sandals

Sonja came up with this novel way to tie your huarache running sandals that doesn’t involve a cord coming up between your toes. As she points out, one potential drawback is that your foot can more easily shift forward on the sole compared to what happens when you have the cord between your toes… but, especially for people who have real trouble with that toe cord, or with the knot, you may want to try this out.

I LOVE that people are getting so creative with huaraches!

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How to tie huaraches sandals – 3 new ideas!

There are so many ways to tie huaraches barefoot running sandals.

I want to show you two cool pictures that’ll probably give you more ideas of your own.

First, Zach Bergen didn’t want the knot between his toes (even though you’ll probably never feel it, since it’s in between your toes and flattens out pretty quickly). So with a bit of thinking, he came up with this solution:

(notice the knot on the TOP side of the running sandal)

Then, here are 2 stylish knots, one invented by my wife (and huaraches walker) Lena Phoenix, and the other invented by me when I couldn’t remember what Lena invented ;-):

For the first one, tie your huaraches the way you normally do. You’ll have a loop pointing toward your toes (see Zach’s picture, above). Then take the “leftover” lace and just repeatedly loop it around the toe loop (think about threading a needle, over and over).

For the second one, just take the leftover and encircle the toe loop, over and over. The “trick” it to make each revolution below the previous one.

I’ll make a video with these if I have to (do I have to?).