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How to Lace Air Force 1s Four Ways

Expert Advice

How to Lace Air Force 1s Four Ways

Dec 14, 2023

If you know, you know. From your homeroom teacher to A-list celebs like Hailey Bieber, Rihanna and Odell Beckham Jr., nearly everyone has rocked a pair of the iconic Air Force 1s at some point in their life. But if you’re wondering how to lace Air Force 1s, we can help you upgrade your lacing techniques.

Here are a few ideas for lacing your Air Force 1s:

Factory Reset Lacing

This clean look takes the already-laced AF1s straight from the box and customizes them with a few easy steps.

Steps for Factory Recent Lacing:

  1. Take the right lace end and begin pulling the middle of it to loosen the lace, leaving the length of the end about an inch from the top eyelet. Repeat with the left lace.
  2. Carefully loosen the laces in the second top eyelets as well, adjusting the tongue and the top eyelets as you go until you’ve got a fit and aesthetic you like.
  3. You can keep the laces untied or tie them — whichever you prefer.

Loose Lacing

Loose lacing is a great option for lacing Air Force 1 styles. Here, we show you what it looks like on the classic low-top silhouette.

Steps for Loose Lacing:

  1. Thread the lace through the AF1 deubré tag, making sure the lace gets threaded behind the tag.
  2. Take either end of the laces and thread them each down through the bottom eyelets to create a horizontal bar.
  3. Make sure the tag stays centered and the lace ends remain even in length.
  4. Thread the medial-side lace through the top of the corresponding lateral-side hole.
  5. Take the outside shoelace and thread it through the top of the second inside hole.
  6. Continue this pattern up until the desired height, keeping the laces flat as you go.
  7. On the very last holes at the top, thread the laces under and through rather than over.
  8. Work your way down the entire lacing system and strategically loosen the tightened lacing pattern.
  9. Loosely tie a bow at the top and tighten the ankle strap.

Bar Lacing

Ever laced Air Force 1s using bar lacing? Here’s our easier technique:

Steps for Bar Lacing:

  1. Thread laces through the Air Force 1 tag at the bottom, so laces are on the underside of the holes.
  2. Take the right lace and thread it through the underside of the second right hole.
  3. With your left lace, thread it into the underside of the third left hole.
  4. Go back to your right lace, bringing it across the shoe’s throat and down through the hole.
  5. Bring the left lace horizontally across to the third right hole.
  6. Reach down to the lace now on the left underside and thread it up through the fourth left hole.
  7. Skip a hole on the right side and thread the right-side lace up through the fifth right hole.
  8. Create horizontal bars with each of those lacing sides.
  9. Now take the right lace and thread it up through the second-to-last right hole from the top. Bring the lace across and over, threading down into the left-side hole right across.
  10. Next, take the lace that was already on the left and thread it up and through the same hole you just threaded the right lace through. Now you should have one lace facing the inside of the shoe and one lace facing the outside, all in the same eyestay.
  11. Take the lace facing the outside and thread it over and down into the lace hole horizontally across to create a double bar.
  12. Tuck the ends of the laces inside the shoe.


Diamond Shoe Lacing

Diamond lacing your shoes is a unique way to give your AF1s plenty of character. Use this step-by-step with white or black laces, or mix them up with varying colors.

Steps for Diamond Lacing: 

  1. Thread your laces through the bottom two eyelets. 
  2. Cross the laces over each other and thread them through the next two eyelets, up from the bottom, on opposite sides. 
  3. Skip one eyelet on each side and thread diamond laces through the next two eyelets up. 
  4. Cross laces over each other again and thread them through the next two eyelets up on opposite sides. 
  5. Repeat the above steps, and tie your laces in a bow. 


Interested in unboxing more tutorials on how to lace and wear your Air Force 1s? Keep reading these articles from the Unboxed Blog!

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