It was 1998 when I first heard someone say that “paper is dead, in a short time everything will be replaced by digital.” After nearly twenty-five years, a lot of water under the bridge and a lot of excellent digital products, paper remains far from its demise in any case. On the other hand, when I was forced to use shoes with laces as a child, I candidly wondered why, since the Velcro ones were so comfortable.
If on road shoes traditional laces are not questioned-except for a few rare models to cater to athletes with reduced mobility-in trail running, on the other hand, new ways have been experimented with for the past few years. Some successfully, some less so.
Laces according to Salomon
Salomon has been introducing its Quicklace System for more than a decade and successfully uses it on almost all of its outdoor footwear. The pros are many and undeniable: the shoe doesn’t untie, at most it loosens up a little; when you want to tighten it, it really does take you a matter of seconds (when you’re in a race, on the other hand, and you lace up the classic laces practically every competitor you can get, including a couple of elderly hikers in wheelchairs, overtake you). My feeling, however, is that it loosens relatively often, plus I have the perception that I cannot tighten the different areas of the foot as differentially as I would like. Finally, I have that terror-mostly irrational, I know well-that if it were to break I would have no way to put a patch on it. Some people love it and some people hate it, personally I find it smart and functional but then in the end it doesn’t make me rip my underpants off, that’s it.
From cycling to trail running
In recent years then we have seen the BOA Fit System become more widespread on some top-of-the-line models. A widely used and appreciated system in cycling because of its simplicity/speed of use and the possibility of extremely precise adjustment. In trail running we see it, for example, on La Sportiva Cyklon, on Altra Mont Blanc, on many Adidas Terrex models, and on the Speedland project, where we even find two BOAs well. There, if one BOA pleases me but does not fully satisfy me, two BOAs on the other hand satisfy that need for millimeter adjustment mentioned above because they allow you to vary the tension at will at different points, of course at the expense of your wallet.
Naked to the goal
Finally, for the past few months, Naked – a U.S. brand that makes lightness and functionality its banner – has brought to market its Naked T/r, a slip-on trail running shoe, totally without any lacing system. A shoe that probably either fits you perfectly or you’ll hate after a few miles-surely deserves a place in the Precious Things column soon.
In short, no: I don’t think the disappearance of classic laces is around the corner, far from it. However, I believe that the continued experimentation, research and development of some brands can only do everyone good, pushing many to do even better.
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Cover image by Malik Skydsgaard on Unsplash