No tie shoelaces, not one gives a length and five need a flame
The short answer
Prices in GBPUSDEUReach row carries the day it was read
Twelve no tie elastic shoelaces from one search, none of them handled here. The thing you buy to stop bending down.
Every one is sold on never tying a bow again. Not one says how long it is.
The number that has gone missing
An ordinary shoelace is sold by length and nothing else. 70cm, 90cm, 120cm, 150cm. It is in the title because it is the only fact that decides whether the thing fits your shoe.
Put an elastic core in it and a lock on the end, and the number vanishes.
Across twelve listings, not one title gives a length. Not one gives a width. Not one says how many eyelet pairs it suits. What they give instead is the same sentence twelve times over: no tie, lazy, quick, elastic, replacement.
One of the twelve does give it, in a photograph. About 120cm long and about 0.2cm thick. That is an ordinary trainer length, it is the only measurement on this shelf, and you have to open the images to find it.
And then you cut it
Here is why the missing length matters less than it should, and why it still matters.
Almost every one of these is fitted the same way: thread the lace, pull it to the tension you want, clip the lock on, and cut off what is left over. The listings say so in their own installation pictures, at step five or six, and none of them says so in the title.
So the lace does not have to be your length. It has to be long enough, and then you make it your length. That is a sensible design, and it has one consequence worth knowing before you start: it is permanent. A lace cut for a trainer is cut. It is not going into a boot next year.
Five of them end with a flame
This is the part that surprised me, and it is in the photographs of five of the twelve.
| How the cut end is finished | Listings |
|---|---|
| Heat shrink tubing supplied in the pack | 3 |
| “Use a lighter to secure the shoelace heads” | 1 |
| “Iron to prevent fraying” | 1 |
| Not mentioned anywhere | 7 |
An elastic lace is a woven sleeve around rubber strands. Cut it and it frays, so the cut end needs sealing, and the sellers who thought about it supply a short piece of heat shrink tubing to do it with. The ones who did not, tell you to melt it.
None of this is difficult and none of it is dangerous with any care at all. But “no tie” is doing a lot of work in these titles, and a first time buyer expecting to thread a lace and walk out of the door is going to be looking for a lighter instead.
Five different locks, and four listings that will not say
The lock is the product. It is the part that shows, the part your fingers use and the part that eventually gives up.
| Mechanism | Listings |
|---|---|
| Metal press buckle | 2 |
| Press type round buckle | 1 |
| Screw rotation buckle | 1 |
| Triangle lock | 1 |
| Spring lock, boot listing | 1 |
| Says only “with lock” or nothing at all | 6 |
Half the shelf will not tell you what is on the end of the lace it is selling you. Open the pictures and you can usually see it, which is the running theme of this page.
The cheapest thing here is not a lace
One listing is 22p, about a tenth of the price of anything else, and it is not a pair of laces. It is a lot of sixteen silicone strips.
The silicone ones are a genuinely different object. Rather than one lace threaded through the shoe, you get a set of small stretchy tabs, one per eyelet pair, each clipping in on its own. Nothing to thread, nothing to cut, no flame.
And they are the only things on this page with a proper size system. One listing publishes eight lengths, 4.1, 4.4, 4.9, 5.3, 5.6, 6.1, 6.6 and 7.1cm, so the pairs near the toe can be shorter than the pairs at the ankle. That is more thought about fit than the other eleven listings put together, and it is on the shelf that costs the least.
They look different. A row of tabs is not a lace, and on a smart leather shoe it would be obvious. On canvas plimsolls or children’s trainers it is fine.
Round, flat, and the eyelets you already have
Nine of the twelve say which section they are, and it is a fit question rather than a preference.
- Round suits the ordinary punched eyelet on most trainers and boots
- Flat suits the shoes that came with flat laces, which is most white leather trainers and most skate shoes
The simplest check is the lace currently in the shoe. Match it.
Two of them name somebody else’s trainer
Two listings say they fit one particular brand of sports shoe.
An elastic lace with a buckle on it fits essentially any lace up shoe with eyelets. Naming a brand is a search term rather than a specification, and it is the same move as a phone case listing naming nine handsets it has never been near. It is not a reason to pay more, and it is not a reason to avoid them either, since one of them turned out to be the only listing here that publishes its own length.
Side by side
Prices in GBPUSDEUR. Each row carries the date its price was read.
| Product | Price | Why it is here | Where to buyLink |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall, and the only one that prints a size 1Pair Round No Tie Shoelaces Quick Lazy Shoe Strings | £2.78$3.72€3.27checked 18 Oct 2026 | The single listing on this page that tells you how big it is. Its third photograph gives about 120cm of lace at 0.2cm thick, which is a normal trainer length with room to cut, and having that number is worth more than anything else on this shelf. A round elastic lace with a press buckle and a tail clip, and the pack includes the heat shrink tubing, which is the honest version of what fitting these involves. Its title also names a trainer brand it fits, which you can ignore, because it fits the others too | Check opens in a new tab |
| Cheapest sensible round pair No Tie Round Elastic Shoe Laces Screw Rotation | £2.46$3.29€2.91checked 18 Oct 2026 | It names its mechanism, a screw rotation buckle, which tightens by twisting rather than by pressing a spring. Its installation sequence is six steps and the last one is cutting the excess off, stated plainly in its own picture rather than discovered afterwards. Round section, so it suits the ordinary punched eyelets on a trainer. If you want to find out whether you like the idea before spending more, this is the one to find out with | Check opens in a new tab |
| The metal buckle one One Touch Press Locking Shoelaces for Sneakers | £2.56$3.32€3.02checked 18 Oct 2026 | Most of the locks here are moulded plastic. This one is a knurled metal barrel, shown close up and in the hand across four of its photographs, and it is the part of the product you will actually look at every day. One touch press to release. Its installation steps include a flame, so budget five minutes and a lighter the first time, and then never think about it again. Among the dearer pairs here, and the reason is visible | Check opens in a new tab |
What you can settle before you buy
- These genuinely work, and they are about two pounds. An elastic lace with a lock on the end turns a lace up shoe into a slip on one. For anybody who cannot easily bend down, or a child who cannot yet tie a bow, that is a real change for the price of a coffee.
- Round or flat is a fit question, not a taste one. Nine of the twelve say which they are. Shoes are punched for one or the other, and a flat lace through a round eyelet sits badly. Look at the lace currently in the shoe and match it.
- One listing prints its own measurements and it is the most useful thing on this page. About 120cm long and 0.2cm thick, in its third photograph. That is the only actual size on this whole shelf, and it is long enough for a standard trainer with six or seven eyelet pairs.
- The silicone ones are a different product and they are sized properly. Instead of one lace you get a set of separate stretchy strips, and one listing publishes eight lengths from 4.1cm to 7.1cm so the rows nearest the toe can be shorter than the rows at the ankle. Nothing to cut and nothing to burn.
- The price range here is almost meaningless until you check the quantity. The cheapest thing on the page is 22p and it is a lot of sixteen silicone strips, not a pair of laces. The honest comparison is about £2 to £3.70 a pair.
What to read twice
- Not one of the twelve titles says how long the lace is. An ordinary shoelace is sold by length, 70, 90, 120 or 150cm, because that is the only thing that decides whether it fits. Put a lock on the end and the number disappears from every single listing.
- Five of the twelve finish with a flame, and none of them says so in the title. Three list heat shrink tubing among the parts, one tells you in step four to use a lighter to secure the lace ends, and one says to iron them to stop them fraying. No tie does not mean no work. It means one fitting job with scissors and a flame, once, and then no bows.
- You cut them, so it is a one way fit. Almost every installation sequence here ends with cutting off the excess. That is fine, and it means the missing length matters less than it looks, but a lace cut for a trainer will not move to a boot later.
- The lock is the whole product and four of the twelve never say which one they use. Between them this page has a metal press buckle, a screw rotation buckle, a press type round buckle, a triangle lock and a spring lock. That part sits on top of your shoe where the bow used to be, it is what you see, and it is what wears out.
- Two name a brand of trainer they fit. That is a claim about somebody else's shoe rather than a fact about the lace, and an elastic lace that fits one trainer fits almost any other. Do not pay extra for the name in the title.
- Not one says how many eyelet pairs it suits. A boot with ten pairs needs a great deal more lace than a plimsoll with five, and the only listing here that addresses boots at all does it with the word boot in a photograph.