Flauge Lace Protectors after 2 hours of skating. (additional photos below)

     
Skateboarding has always been filled with novelties. Jeff Grosso put it in his own words in the latest "Love Letters to Skateboarding" by calling these novelties gimmicks. The difference between gimmicks & novelties is separated by a thin, red line. This fine line could only be described as a "pussy hair", seeing as how pussy hairs carry the quality of being light, fine but sometimes curly. Nonetheless, that's how thin this line is. Novelties are described as having "the quality of being new, original or unusual" whereas gimmicks are found to be "a trick or device intended to attract attention". Wherever you feel that Flauge Lace Protectors fall in place is up to you; we're simply here to justify that they actually work.

Now, before you get all "core" on me & say "it's life bro, deal with your ripped laces", allow me to let you in on a little secret: no one likes ripping their laces. As simple as the solution may be, tying the loose ends gets lame real quick. Not only that, but after years of skating I've always noticed that its hindered my skating. It's actually distracting, annoying & even worse, makes my shoe feel loose on my foot, even after tying the ends together. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. After all, skateboarders are synonymous with OCD for a reason.

These Flauge Lace Protectors definitely fall into that timeless category of "Why didn't I think of that?". I really don't know why no one has thought of them before though. Every timeless problem with skateboarding has been practically answered except for the "ripped shoe laces" conundrum. I mean, we even had Lappers, remember?

5 hours of skating.

10 hours of skating.

Between the Nike SB Omar review & the DC Centric review, we used these Flauge Lace Protectors & fucking loved them. Without reiterating too much, we were changing laces in both of those models constantly. Over the course of a couple of sessions, there are 3 photos documenting the change in these Lace Protectors. All sessions put together add up to 17 hours of skating & I'm not surprised by the results. They worked just as they promised & with the exception of falling off once, stay on the whole time during review. The Lace Protector grazes the griptape smoothly & doesn't disrupt ollies or kickflips. Gradually the rubber smooths out with each trick & gets thin. Eventually this will lead to the lace protector loosening up a bit. When that time comes, you can either replace it with the second protector from the pack or just stick it out with the one you have until it ultimately vanishes. 

Overall, I would suggest Flauge Lace Protectors for any skater who commonly rips laces. As general as that statement may be, there are a number of skaters that strangely never go through laces. Again, if you're wondering if this product is for you, simply analyze how you turn your ankle when doing tricks & if you sense any abrasion on the upper of your shoe, these are for you. Of course, as there is an exception of those who don't rip laces, sometimes you can actually fault the model shoe you're skating. Take all these things into consideration and if you think Flauge Lace Protectors are for you, pick them up at the Flauge store. Tell them RL's sent ya & maybe I can get in on a piece of the action over there.

To summarize, you should only get these Lace Protectors if you chronically rip through laces, wear shoes that unintentionally put laces in the way of harm or if you're just as annoyed with ripping laces as we are. We'll be giving away a couple of pairs in the coming days so try your luck if you want these at no cost. Check our FB for an update on this contest, coming soon.