Chapter 126 Question 114

Why are so many people still not wearing shoes that use Velcro? (Adam Goldstein) In 1955, the Swiss inventor Georges.Learning to tie shoes was a childhood rite of passage until George de Mestral patented Velcro.Since then, Velcro has replaced zippers, buckles, bow straps, and other traditional tie-down methods in numerous occasions.From the perspective of wearing shoes, Velcro is obviously more convenient than shoelaces.For example, shoelaces tend to loosen and people tend to trip over them while walking.Using velcro is much faster and simpler than using shoelaces.While it was once thought that Velcro would soon drive shoelaces off the market, the proportion of adults who wear Velcro shoes remains small.Why haven't shoelaces been eliminated?

At first, the shoe industry widely used Velcro on shoes for children, the elderly and the mentally handicapped.The extensive use of Velcro on children's shoes explains why many children have not yet learned to tie their shoelaces.Shoes with Velcro closures provide these children and their parents a convenient method of self-reliance.Among the elderly, Velcro is popular for medical reasons.For example, some elderly people cannot bend down, and some elderly people have inflexible fingers and cannot tie their shoelaces. Therefore, in the public impression, Velcro shoes are associated with incompetence and vulnerability.Even though velcro is better than shoelaces in many ways, shoelaces are not going away anytime soon.