The secret to pretty big sneakers
Many women with larger shoe sizes rely heavily on sneakers. No matter how big your feet are, at least you can always find men’s runners in your size.
But hanging out in the men's sports department is not any girl's dream. And while the shoes may fit, they can look bulky, bland and even downright fugly.
Until... you change the lace colour. Ta-da!
You will be *amazed* by the difference this makes. It's so simple, I could kick myself for not thinking of it sooner!
Rock your runners with coloured laces
I switched my size 9.5 uk adidas runner laces from black to pink & was delighted with the result.
I don't have a pic of mine beforehand with the original laces unfortunately. But they looked very similar to these adidas men's lite racer trainers or adidas core men's low sneakers. Big, black & a bit boring!
Here's a picture of my trainers after I switched to pastel pink laces instead.
I can't believe how different they look just by changing the lace colour. Pretty big shoes indeed. 😍
Shoelaces come in every colour under the sun, even rainbow, so there's no stopping you. Hell, you could even keep changing the laces to match every outfit if you need a new hobby! 😜
Level up your laces game
Another trick to minimise the look of bulky sneakers is to hide your lace knots.
Every pair of runners looks neater without big floppy shoe laces all over the top of them. FACT!
There's a variety of ways to hide shoe laces. You can tie them behind the tongue or put the ends under the insole. Any method I tried was either uncomfortable or too much faff so I was resigned to my messy looking tied laces.
Luckily I got the chance to try Xpand no tie laces recently & they have been a game changer for me. I keep looking down at my super neat pink laces & smiling.
Xpand are special elastic laces that you never have to tie. So your trainers become slip ons. How clever is that?
To set them up, you first lace up your shoes as usual. Then, instead of tying them, you put special clips on each end that keep them in place hidden in your shoe. Just set & forget!
Here's a quick video demo below & if you're interested I recommend watching this longer version too that explains everything in detail.
I did find installing the laces a bit fiddly even with the videos. I tend to overthink things though!
The key steps are as follows:
- Thread the lace through the 2 holes in the clip
- Pull the clip along the lace until it's nice & close to the inside of your shoe
- Wrap the lace round the other side of the clip
- Push the lace through the end of the clip to secure it.
Here's a pic of the inside of my runner showing the Xpand laces in place:
Tip: if you don't have a cigarette lighter to seal the raw lace ends, covering the ends with nail polish works a treat too. I left my ends raw for a week & they barely frayed so no worries if you have neither to hand.
If you would like to give them a go, you can buy direct from xpandlaces.com who ship worldwide, or they are also available from other retailers including Amazon.
Note: I was sent Xpand lace samples free of charge but with no strings attached. I chose to feature & review them here because I like & use the laces. This post does contain affiliate links though, so I could earn a small commission if you follow these links & purchase. This helps keep site content free & without intrusive ads.