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Thursday, May 15, 2014

Trouble Keeping Laces Tied? Try ClickTight!

The cool thing about the Internet is the ability to connect with people all over the world. I've made awesome friends in the UK, Australia, Canada, Brazil (just to name a few) and now the Netherlands. A few months back Jurriën Theuvenet, the owner and founder of ClickTight Innovations contacted me about testing out a new product--ClickTight. I'm always game for testing new running related gear, so I told him to send me the ClickTights.

What is ClickTight? It's a new little device that you slip on your laces which keeps them secure and prevents them for coming untied. Oddly enough, the idea for the product didn't sprout out of a running related need, instead it was the result of finding a way to keep a surfer's boardshorts from coming off. 

While surfing in Mexico, Jurriën realized that the only way to keep his boardshorts from falling off was to double-knot its laces. This also meant a cumbersome knot pressing in his stomach while lying flat on the board. On the beach, he drew some initial designs of a flat lace-lock system.
As soon as the first prototypes where made Jurriën realized this technology had wider applications, particularly for athletes who habitually use a double-knot to tie their shoelaces. Tying shoelaces is one thing; untying another, and a nuisance after a sport activity. 

Back in Amsterdam Jurriën met up with Hans Koeleman to further the design. Hans Koeleman is a freethinker who believes there is a creative solution to every problem on earth. Educated at universities in the United States, the arenas of two Olympic Games and the work floor at Nike, he is embedded with a fairly impatient drive for excellence and innovation. Thankfully he recognized the immense potential of ClickTight and became a crucial contributor to its further development.

My ClickTights arrived in the mail and I immediately began testing them out. They are very simple to put on your shoes and the nice thing is once they are on, they're on. You don't have to take them on and off. There are three different ways you can use the ClickTights with your laces. I chose the traditional bow look. To tighten the laces you simply lift the ClickTight flap, pull on both sides of the bow, and then push down on the ClickTight flap until it clicks securing the laces in pace. I tested the ClickTights on numerous runs and have not experienced any issues with the flap coming "unclicked." Everything stays in place and when it's time to take off the shoes, you simply lift the flap and pull up slightly on the ClickTight unit to loosen the laces and then you're ready to slip off the shoes. It's really that simple.

ClickTights aren't available in stores just yet. To get a pair head over to the ClickTight Kickstarter page and a pledge of $15 or more will enable you to get one pair of ClickTights. You can choose from the basic Black/White ClickTight, a color ClickTight (5 colors to choose from), the ROPARUN ClickTight, or choose from one of the Challenger ClickTights (5K, 10K, 22.1K, or 42.2K)


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