Lawson Equipment Technora ToughLaces

They feel super strong, but you better double knot them!

I have a pair of Asolo Plasmic shoes that have eaten up their original shoelaces. I think the metal eyelets are just too abrasive for a traditional lace. After reading JRinGerogia's review of the laces I decided to order a pair. Unfortunately they were dealing with Hurricane Matthew at the time so my order took over a month to process. However, eventually my laces showed up and I quickly re-laced my shoes.

The aglets are steel and a bit thick so it was hard to actually lace my shoes. They barely fit through the eyelets. If you are thinking of getting these laces, make sure you check your eyelets first, otherwise you will end up with laces you can't really use. For instance, I ordered two sets of these laces; one for my Asolo shoes and one for some Saucony Peregrine 5 trail runners. I could not use them with the running shoes as the aglets were too big.

You can tell, just from the feel of the laces that they are strong. They are a tiny bit abrasive and they feel as strong as steel but as flexible as rope. It's a really odd feel. They give me confidence. There is no stretch in them at all when you tie your shoes.

On the flip side they do not stay tied for me at all unless I double knot my shoes. No matter how tightly I tie the first knot they come untied. A double knot solves the problem. It's just a little weird because I've not needed to double tie a shoe since I was a kid.

They look really good on the Asolo shoes. They are sort of a dark steely gray in color and the aglet basically blends in. They aren't as stylish as the original laces, but I think they will last longer than the shoes will.

I bought the 48" laces which are the perfect length for shoes. They leave me with plenty of lace to properly tie the shoes (and even double knot), but not so much that the laces drag on the ground (even when I don't double knot).

Here is a photo of how worn the old laces got in just a few months of wear:

And here is a photo of the new laces on the shoes; double knotted:

This final photo focuses on the lace that normally goes through the top eyelet. I've withdrawn it a little for special consideration.

The lace has compressed a bit and is already showing a little tiny bit of wear. These shoes are not kind to laces. I had assumed with the old lace that it was the metal eyelets but it appears the hard leather top eyelet is the main source of stress on the laces.

The best shoelaces I’ve ever used for the trail.

This is a review of the Technora Toughlace shoelace made by Lawson Outdoor Equipment. Lawson is a cottage manufacturer of hiqh-quality cord and line for outdoor activities (I reviewed their Glowire guy line here). I am not affiliated with Lawson OE in any way.

Mine are the 48" length and I paid $11.25.

These laces are great. Technora fiber is incredibly strong and is used in products like fire rescue ropes, body armor, and yacht racing products. The result here is the strongest lace I’ve ever used – so strong that Lawson guarantees them for life. Not only are they strong along the lace, they are highly abrasion resistant and fire resistant.

These laces have a round shape and are somewhat beefy, but most if not all hiking shoes and boots have fairly large eyelets.

And, these laces stay tied. I only have to tie them with the regular shoelace “bunny ears” knot and they hold all day. No double knotting or double winding, no special knot needed:

The aglet (lace tip) on these laces is a nearly inch-long sleeve of metal crimped tightly into the lace. It’s not going anywhere and it won’t crack, splinter or shed like plastic aglets:

They only come in one color, a gray tone as shown. But they come in 13 different sizes, from 36" to 108" to precisely fit a wide variety of shoes/boots and lacing styles. Prices range from $10 to $13.

Not much more to say, just a great lace for on the trail.

******

EDIT:

******

In response to Alicia's question about comparing the Lawson laces to the laces that came with these La Sportiva trail runners, here is a side-by-side photo:


It may be hard to see in this photo, but the La Sportiva lace (bottom) is flat, the tan stripe is along the short end.

The La Sportiva lace squishes down more when I squeeze it, while the Lawson lace is not just thicker but stiffer and denser, much less squish-ability. Here's a side-by-side with them being squeezed equally by binder clips, you can see that the binder clip squeezing the La Sportiva is more "closed":