Magnetic Laces

Lacing Shoes Reimagined

After years of having shoes which had broken heel support from sliding my foot in instead of lacing and unlacing; I wanted to develop a sleek looking shoe that was modern and minimalist. Keeping the shoe lace style flaps over the tongue of the shoe kept the classic look while allowing magnet integration.

Low-to-high fidelity prototypes were created and tested by myself. Seeing this project take shape in a more refined shoe was very pleasing. Although the shoemaker had never seen something like this before, she was more than happy to help as best she could and was able to accurately build my design.

Creating a latch strong enough to hold the shoe together, yet not make the user’s foot get stuck to metal objects was a major hurdle. Neodymium magnets with magnetic shields were made using high gauge steel sheets.