About Us
I want to make life easier for parents while giving kids the confidence to learn how to tie their shoes by themselves. This is called an activity of daily living or an ADL.
Flash back to 2010. I have 3 kids all under 7 with all different abilities. Kiddo #1 can’t tie his shoes at 7 years old. Kiddo #2 was tying her friends’ shoes at 3 and then there is the baby, Kiddo #3.
![two kids on the ground with faces next to each other](https://tyetheshoe.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/CAndH3-1024x681.jpg)
By 2010 the family is in the throes of getting one kid to school, the other one to pre-K (or kindy) at a different school and the baby gets brought along. By the 3rd kid, no one has time to wait while he tries to feed himself, get dressed or figure out how to tie his shoes. (three ADL’s right there)
There had to be a better way to teach a kid how to tie their shoes. I thought if the shoelace had 2 different colors, it would make it easier to see how to tie and easier to explain all while reinforcing color recognition. I started experimenting with different types of shoelaces and different types of dyes.
![Headshot of Kiddo#3 telling us how to tie shoes](https://tyetheshoe.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/CTellingUsHowToTie-824x1024.png)
Once I got the shoelaces and dyes figured out, I needed to test them out. Kiddo #3 was my test subject. By the time he was 5 he was in kindergarten and needed to be able to tie his shoes. So, on spring break we documented his journey with HIM talking about how to tie shoes. I thought peer to peer might be helpful for some kids.
He was successful. In one week he went from not knowing how to tie his shoes to being able to do it all by himself. His colors were black and red. They matched his shoes.
This then morphed into sports fans wanting their team colors for shoelaces, OT’s using them for their patients who were on the spectrum (ASD) and finally those who just wanted shoelaces to match their shoes.
We are unique because you can choose the length of your shoelace (from our selection) and you can choose the color you want in any color we carry (sorry, no neon). No more shoelaces so long they need to be cut (and then they fray) or knotted over and over. No more kids so frustrated they start crying or give up because they can’t tie their shoes. Colors that you choose and make you happy.
![a black and gold shoe in the green grass with black and gold shoelaces](https://tyetheshoe.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/HIRESShoeShot8-edited-scaled.jpg)