The Cinderella Effect: Can a £6 Pair of Shoelaces Transform Your Trainers?

What if you didn't need new trainers at all? What if the easiest, cheapest and most colourful shoe makeover was already staring you in the face?

We all know the story.

Cinderella has nothing to wear to the ball. Along comes a Fairy Godmother, there's a Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo, a pumpkin becomes a carriage and Cinderella's rather ordinary footwear is replaced with the most famous pair of shoes in history.

Admittedly, we've got slightly less magic to work with at Love Your Laces.

No pumpkin.

No mice.

And our ability to manufacture glass slippers is currently somewhat limited.

But we can perform a surprisingly good transformation with a pair of shoelaces.

And it'll cost you £6.

Life is too short for boring trainers

We spotted something recently that made us smile.

Writing about fashion and eye-catching trainers, The Times highlighted a British fashion brand that offers 19 different types of shoelace.

Nineteen!

That caught our attention.

Especially as, at Love Your Laces, we currently have around 95 different shoelace styles, colours and designs to choose from - and we're still adding more.

Not so long ago, shoelaces were the bit of the shoe nobody really thought about. They came with your trainers, you tied them up and that was pretty much the end of the conversation.

But perhaps that's changing.

Because somewhere along the way, the humble shoelace has started becoming something much more interesting.

An accessory.

And we think it's about time.

Meet the Cinderella Effect

Most of us have done it.

You open the wardrobe, look at the shoes you've worn umpteen times and think:

I'm bored with those.

The obvious answer is to buy another pair.

But before you spend £80, £100 or considerably more on new trainers, try something ridiculously simple.

Change the laces.

Take a plain pair of white trainers and add bright pink laces.

Put leopard print laces into black trainers.

Add metallic laces to an old favourite.

Swap sensible white golf-shoe laces for something in your team colours.

The shoe hasn't changed.

But somehow, it has.

That's what we're calling The Cinderella Effect.

A tiny change that makes an ordinary pair of shoes feel completely different.

No Fairy Godmother required.

Your shoes can have more than one personality

This is perhaps our favourite thing about shoelaces.

They're not permanent.

Your favourite trainers don't have to have one look for their entire lives.

They can be sensible on Monday and ridiculous on Saturday.

They can match your outfit.

They can clash spectacularly with your outfit.

They can support your team, celebrate an occasion, brighten up a rainy Tuesday or simply make you smile when you look down at your feet.

And unlike buying another pair of shoes, you can change them back whenever you fancy.

A little wardrobe of shoelaces can give one pair of trainers several completely different personalities.

Which seems rather more fun than owning six pairs of almost identical white trainers.

Sometimes the smallest details make the biggest difference

Love Your Laces actually began because of this very idea.

Not in a fashion studio.

Not around a boardroom table.

But on a golf course.

A small change to a pair of shoes made us realise just how much personality could be added by something as simple as a shoelace.

And once you notice it, you start seeing possibilities everywhere.

Those slightly tired trainers at the back of the wardrobe?

New laces.

The black trainers you wear all the time?

Give them some colour.

The golf shoes that look exactly like everybody else's?

Not anymore.

The trainers you've bought for school that have to be black?

The shoes might have to follow the rules. Your laces can still have a little personality.

It's such a tiny detail.

But tiny details have a habit of making a surprisingly big difference.

It's also a rather good antidote to fast fashion

There is another reason we love the Cinderella Effect.

We're constantly encouraged to replace things.

New season. New trend. New trainers.

But sometimes we don't actually need something new.

Sometimes we just need to fall in love with what we already own again.

Replacing worn or boring laces is one of the simplest ways to freshen up a pair of shoes. Give them a clean, add a fabulous new pair of laces and suddenly those trainers you had stopped noticing can feel exciting again.

Will £6 shoelaces magically repair a pair of trainers that are falling apart?

Sadly not. Even our Fairy Godmother has limits.

But can they make a perfectly good pair that you've become bored with feel completely different?

Absolutely.

So, do you really need another pair of trainers?

Maybe.

We're certainly not going to stand between anybody and a fabulous new pair of shoes.

But before you hit Add to Basket, take another look at the trainers you already own.

Imagine them with leopard print.

Or rainbow.

Or polka dots.

Or metallics.

Or hearts.

Or simply a completely different colour.

You might discover that the shoes weren't boring after all.

They were just waiting for their Cinderella moment.

A little something for your shoes

Cinderella needed a Fairy Godmother, a magic wand, a pumpkin, several helpful mice and a strict midnight deadline to transform her footwear.

We think we've found an easier way.

A pair of shoelaces.

Sometimes you don't need new shoes.

Sometimes you just need to look at the ones you already have differently.

And if a little £6 pair of laces makes you look down at your feet and smile?

We'd call that a pretty good transformation.

Now then… what colour is your Cinderella moment going to be?