by Pam Uher

Created on: January 21, 2008

The inventor of the modern shoelace is supposedly Harvey Kennedy. It is reported in the book "A Handy Book of Curious Information: Comprising Strange Happenings in the Life of Men and Animals and Odd Statistics Extraordinary Phenomena...." by William S. Walsh (published by J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1913) that Harvey Kennedy made $2,500,000 from his patent of the shoelace. Did he invent the shoelace or just take advantage of the ability to patent the shoe fastening lace and make a great deal of money?

Archaeological artifacts (all though scarce, when it comes to foot wear) show us shoe fastening devices have been around in all cultures throughout the course of ancient and modern history. Even the thawing of an authentic ancient "iceman", showed the use of shoelaces, as he was wearing hide boots laced closed with bark thongs. British museums have on exhibit in their hallowed halls, boots and shoes using shoelaces as far back as the 12th century. Laces were used to keep many types of sandals on the feet of Greeks and Romans as many pictures depict and stories tell. Native Americans, over the centuries, used leather thongs and laces to secure animal hide moccasins and winter leg-gins to their feet and legs. Slip on, button up and buckled shoes were not without competition from laced up boots, shoes and sandals. Thus the shoelace (as a fastener) has existed for thousands of years in various forms and shapes.

Shoelaces have never been just a modern method of securing a shoe to the foot. History shows us for centuries humans have used leather, cotton, hemp and bark as shoelaces and thongs to attach their shoes to their feet.
Harvey Kennedy took advantage of a moment in history, to take the shoelace to a new high. When the era of patents entered the industrial age and economics began to dictate the origin of invention many saw opportunity to proper. It is often seen, throughout history that simple ideas and creations have dramatic impact on society and the world. Placing an aglet on the lace preventing it from fraying and threading it through an eye hole instead of lacing it against a fastener, made him a lot of money and earned him a place among inventors in history.

Besides would we have the extremely popular (and expensive) Nike and Adidas footwear, if it weren't for an inspirational tweak in the shoelace design by Mr. Kennedy? The sportswear shoe industry (a billion dollar industry)may owe a great note of appreciation to Mr. Kennedy and his shoelace patent of 1790.

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