Here - PFI Group

36
Newsletter
By No Means Trivial
Shoe Accessory with Core Strength
Everybody is familiar with them. Everybody uses
them. Even oetzi, the famous glacier mummy, is considered
to have been aware of their great advantages
and every child has to laboriously learn how to tie
them. We are talking shoelaces. Yet although it is hard
to imagine everyday life without shoelaces, only few
people have probably ever asked how they are actually
made. Since this question has been put to us, we
would like to provide an insight into shoelace production.
Shoelace with a
tubular knitted core
PHYSICS
Whether they are called shoelaces, bootlaces, or shoestrings,
these generally braided or woven textile products
have long been in use and come in a wide variety
of shapes and designs: round and flat variants are just
as common as finely worked laces worthy of wedding
shoes or coarse and robust laces for doing up work
boots.
Sometimes the surface has been treated, sometimes it
has not. Colour is also of optical importance, with both
plain coloured and multicoloured laces being present
on the market. The material used also differs. While
some laces are made of natural fibres such as cotton,
others consist of man-made fibres such as polyethylene
or polyamide, of mixed fibres, or even of leather.
The structure and material used largely determine the
properties of the laces.