Lace Length Guide: How to pick the right size for boots and shoes

What could be more frustrating? You’ve broken your shoelaces and when you got to the store you have no idea what to buy!  This lace length guide will show you 3 ways to pick the right size shoelace or bootlace:

Method #1: Remove and Measure

The best way to find the length of shoelace you need is to look at your current laces or your broken laces you want to replace.

Are they just right, too long or too short?

Remove the lace from your footwear and measure it from tip to tip. This is the length for the replacement lace – keeping in mind to add or subtract if your old laces are too long or too short.

It’s important to note that different lacing styles need more or less length, so if you use this method be sure to lace up your boots or shoes the same way you had them before.

Method #2: Choose a Shoelace Length based on the number of eyelet pairs (holes).

If you don’t have the broken laces or a tape measure handy – or if you’re buying them online or as a gift – use our lace length charts below that will help you pick the right shoelace size for boots, shoes and hikers. If you use this way, you’ll need to know how many eyelet pairs your shoe or boot has.

How many eyelets or holes are on your shoes? Count how many total holes you have and divide by two – or count how many holes are down one side. This is the number of eyelet pairs are on your shoes. The boot in the above example has 9 eyelet pairs.

Method #3: Pick laces by the type of shoe

Common shoe types will generally use common shoelace sizes. Check out the chart below for our recommended laces by the type of footwear you have.

Most common hikers, street shoes and workboots use standard lengths of shoelace.

Lace Length Chart for Hiking and Work Boots

The length of laces can vary for different types of shoes. This chart is intended to be a “Guideline only”.

Shoelace size chart for Ironlace boot laces and shoelaces
Shoelace size chart for Ironlace boot laces and shoelaces

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