Freelaces are a replacement for the old fashioned shoe lace and offer a comfortable, modern alternative for runners. As you can see from the picture, I use them in my running shoes but I also have them in my walking shoes too.

I came across these crazy looking laces at the North Face Ultra Trail de Mont Blanc race in a tent selling tonnes of interesting gear. I was intrigued after being accosted by a strange French man waving a pink lace in my face. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my running shoes with me otherwise he would have fitted them for me. It was my birthday that day and I thought I’d treat myself with my hubbies money and splashed out 10 euros for a pair!

Threading them into my running shoes was a bit of a trauma but one I realised how it’s done it was quite easy (if a little sore on the fingers). The laces are elastic and are knotted at even intervals. The idea is that you thread the lace by stretching the elastic until the knots are pulled straight to get through your shoe’s eyelets. I run my quite a bit looser than a normal lace because they are elastic and pull tighter.

Once they are set up to a comfortable tension – you need never touch them again. The elasticity allows your foot to swell/shrink without any discomfort and they make putting your shoe on and taking it off a doddle – no more fiddling with double bows!

The only downside to the laces is that the eyelets on your shoe need to be quite large. I bought a set for my hiking boots but the laces are too big to get through the eyelets. Having said that, I have them on every other shoe I own – in bright blue, grey and black.

Since the original pair I’ve bought 2 more pairs from the jogshop in Brighton and they were kind enough to send me 3 blue laces as they had one odd one in the shop. Not sure what to do with the extra lace but I’m sure it will come in handy one day!!