How to: Stop ripping your shoe laces when skateboarding

Sick to death of buying new laces and re-lacing your skate shoes every few weeks? or even more ripping holes in your shoes.

Don't stress I've got a few solutions for you!

Super glue your shoes

I know it sounds mental, and might even look unpleasant, but bro, its better than buying new laces or shoes every few weeks. Using superglue on your laces and around the stitching where your tares and holes normally appear will provide longevity.

You can use practically any super glue, as long as it's not water based. Quick drying is a must for me as i'm impatient, I also find it can still become sticky in the sun if I use a cheaper slower acting glue.

If you are lucky enough to own a hot glue gun or have the cash to purchase one this is also a great option. This requires electricity and glue refills but I find I can get a much neater job done using one of these and an old wooden lolipop stick (The following will also do the job: cardboard, scrap bendy plastic, old credit card...)

I try and pay attention to sections of the shoe with stitching, filling the stitched holes and the stitches themselves with glue, this prevents them becoming unraveled.

See below a smart kid demonstrating the same idea.

Shoe Goo

If you don't have any superglue hanging around, instead of going out and spending your money on superglue it might be beneficial buying something specifically to fix your skate shoes. If you haven't heard of Shoe Goo before you're in for a treat.

Shoe Goo is a product that is designed to fix holes, tears and for strengthening your shoes, basically all the footwear problems we face as skateboarders.

Last tube I bought cost me £6.00 including delivery from eBay and lasted me over a year.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/shoe-goo

Below you will find a guy explaining/demonstrating Shoe Goo better than I can.

Duct tape

Perfect to keep in your backpack when on the road and in need of an emergency fix. If you're not bothered by the visual state of your kicks or the weird unorthodox feeling.

Not recommended but a quick fix if you're in desperate need.

Do's

DONT's

No rip grip tape

Might be a myth but these guys are promoting a grip tape that apparently doesn't rip shoe material . I'm a bit skeptical about this and I can't seem to find a way of actually buying some but have a look.

Apparently available here - www.sotaskate.com



Hope this helps guys, skate every day.