- Rope predates shoelaces as a knot tying material by a wide margin. Evidence of string and rope making in Europe goes back 28,000 years.
- The oldest leather shoe known to history is a lace-up moccasin-style design that dates back 5,550 years and was discovered inside an Armenian cave in 2010.
- When the mummified remains of Ötzi the Iceman were exhumed from the alpine glacier that buried him, researchers discovered he was wearing shoes with bear skin soles.
- The Inca kept records and sent messages from city to city using khipu, a form of communication based on the tying of knots.
- Strands of DNA will occasionally create complex knots called catananes during the process of recombination or when attacked by a virus.
- The granny knot, one of the most popular knots used in shoelace tying, is described in the 1867 publication “Sailor’s Word-Book” as “the natural knot tied by women or landsmen”.
- Puma was the first major shoe manufacturer to offer footwear with Velcro fasteners, introducing Velcro sneakers in 1968.
- An estimated 75% of runners who wear shoes while jogging strike the ground with the heel of their foot first. Those who don’t tend to hit the ground with the front or middle of the foot.
When teaching young children to tie their shoes, “Professor Shoelace” Ian Fieggen suggests replacing slippery laces made of synthetics with ones made of cotton or other natural fibers because they are easier to hold and will stay tied longer.