Shoelaces and Buttons - Utter Technological Disappointments

I had recently posted about how engineers are underrated and how they do so much for society.  But there are two areas in which engineers need to get their act together.  It is in the low tech area of shoe laces and buttons.  We are in the 21st century and technologically we can do so much, but we still have not seen shoe laces that stay tied or buttons that with surety will stay on for the life of the garment.  We have the ability to send craft to the outer planets, replace hearts, and even manipulate atoms.  Is it really that hard to come up with a material that will not slide out of a knot?  And why isn't anybody suing the shoe companies for trips and falls?  As for buttons, they seem to have a good strategy for keeping price tags on garments with plastic fasteners, why can't they employ a similar strategy to keep buttons on?  It would save the clothing companies from having to add a back-up button to the piece of clothing.  Think of all the embarrassment that could be prevented in civilization if buttons never fell off.

+ Atul

Comments

[Lynn S]

Good point about buttons. The buttons I sew on by hand usually do stay on for the life of the garment. You need at least four loops of (doubled) thread thru each pair of holes and then tie off securely. I'm not sure they can do that with machines.

[Atul]

Perhaps it's just that everything is mass produced now and it takes extra effort to make a button stay on. Good tip on the button sewing. I usually just make lots of random looping knots. It doesn't look good, but it gets the job done.

[Dave P]

velcro

[Atul]

Velcro works great, but it has become a fashion faux pas.