What Length Boot Laces Do I Need?
Share
Short answer, for Dr. Martens, Solovair and most British-made boots:
| Boot | Lace length |
|---|---|
| 8-eye (1460) | 150 cm (59 in) |
| 10 or 11-eye (1490) | 180 cm (71 in) |
If you only came for that, you're done. The rest is why nobody else on the internet agrees on it, and how lacing style changes what you need.
Why every site gives you a different number
Search this question and you'll get answers ranging from 114 cm to 160 cm for the same 8-eye boot. One page says 45 inches, another says 54, another says 63. They can't all be right.
Most of those pages are written by people who have never laced a pair of boots. They're assembled from other pages, which were assembled from other pages. The numbers drift.
We make laces, and we wear the boots. The numbers above are what actually works.
Count eyelets, not inches
Count the pairs of eyelets on one boot — a standard 1460 has eight pairs, which is what "8-eye" means. Then use the table.
If you still have your old laces and they were the right length, measure them tip to tip and match that. Most accurate method available, takes ten seconds.
Straight-bar lacing, and why it's the standard
Ask anyone in the scene how they lace their boots and you'll get the same answer: straight bars. Flat horizontal rungs across the tongue, vertical runs hidden underneath. It's the look, and it has been since the boots became part of the uniform.
It's not only about looks. Bar lacing sits flat against the tongue instead of digging in diagonally, and it loosens evenly when you want the boot off.
The catch is length. Criss-cross runs each segment diagonally between eyelets, and a diagonal is longer than a straight bar. So bar lacing uses less lace, and you're left with more at the ends.
How much more, measured:
| Boot | Extra length per loose end, bar vs criss-cross |
|---|---|
| 8-eye (1460) | 4–5 in (10–12 cm) |
| 10-eye (1490) | 2–3 in (5–7 cm) |
On an 8-eye, fewer eyelets and bar lacing together mean you maximise the leftover. Our 150 cm laces will feel very long. Expect big floppy bows that droop or drag unless you wrap the ends around the ankle collar before tying — which is what most people do anyway, and it looks right.
On a 10-eye, the extra height eats most of the surplus. Criss-cross can leave a 10-eye feeling tight at the top bow; bar lacing fixes that, giving you enough to tie a proper secure bow without skipping eyelets.
So: if you criss-cross and you're between two lengths, size up. If you bar-lace an 8-eye, expect long ends and plan to wrap them.
Do Solovairs need the same length as Docs?
Yes. 150 cm covers 8-eye Solovairs and vintage Made in England pairs exactly as it covers modern 1460s. The eyelet spacing doesn't differ enough to change the length you need.
So if you're lacing an early-90s pair, a vintage Solovair or a boot off the shelf today, the table above holds.
What about our own boots?
We make boots now, in the USA. The Moonstomp is a 10-eye, so it takes our 180 cm laces. Goodyear welted on a Vibram sole with a steel shank, full-grain leather inside and out, built to be resoled rather than replaced. An 8-eye is in development.
We also stock vintage and rare Solovair and Dr. Martens as they come in.
We did a one-off collaboration with Solovair in 2022 on a single run of boots. If you own a pair from that run, the lace lengths above still apply.
What about lace colours?
Let's deal with this properly, because it comes up constantly and the internet is full of nonsense about it.
The colour codes are, for the most part, an urban myth. There has never been a universal system where a particular lace colour meant a particular thing. What existed were regional, inconsistent conventions — and much of what circulates online today was started by far-right groups, not by the subculture itself.
Skinhead style came out of working-class Britain, built on Jamaican rude boy and mod influences. The boots, braces and button-downs were about looking sharp. The idea that your laces broadcast a political position was mostly invented later, and largely by people the scene has spent decades pushing back against.
Wear the colour you like with the boot you like. That's the whole code.
What we make
4 mm 550 paracord with brass aglets, in oxblood, black, white, brown, gold, yellow and red.
Paracord holds a knot and doesn't fray the way waxed cotton does once the plastic tip splits. The 4 mm diameter is deliberate — thin enough to pass through a standard eyelet without fighting it, thick enough to sit properly rather than disappearing into the leather.