Spiral Sandals

My latest sandal design.

Construction:

Drill holes every 1/2" around sole, excluding toe area.

Spiral cord through holes.

Run long end through the spiral

Bring short end across base of the toes and pick up the last spiral before it goes down the core of the spiral.

Now you have two ends on opposite sides of the foot, and any number of places that you can pick up that cord between spirals.  Lace as desired.

Pros: 

It is really easy to change the lacing pattern, as you can pick up the straight cord between loops anywhere and as many/few times as you like. Very secure side-to-side. Secure against forward slip. By pulling up a large loop at the heel, I'm able to get a very high heel strap that I find difficult to secure with other lacing styles.

Cons: 

Foot slides back about an inch in steep conditions. With the pictured lacing pattern, the rear most loops get pulled under the foot which is uncomfortable. There is a lot of cord in contact with the ground, may have poor lifetime and need re-lacing.

Pro/Con: 

With the three rows of lace all continuous with no knot until the ends, tension moves all around. This is a pro in that it improves fit, but a con in that the lacing is a bit unpredictable and if you're OCD about symmetry or how it looks you may have to fiddle with it a lot.

Possible design modifications: 

I'm working on alternate lacing patterns, especially around the heel. Might re-work the first row to skip the loops at the heel, as these will see the most ground contact and are pretty useless in most lacing patterns.