Abstract: Standard bow knots—which are favored on lace-up shoes—are prone to come untied. The latter is both an inconvenience and a safety issue. But no bow knot can come untied until one end of the bow has passed back through the loosened knot. The present bow retainer clips are unitary, bent wire, spring clips which fit through the upper grommets of lace-up shoes. Such clips have recesses which are aligned with a row of grommets on either the left or right side of a shoe. While the bow knot is being tied, one or both halves of the bow on either side of the knot are inserted under the clip. The wire of the latter will indent and grip the shoelace so as to make it difficult or impossible for such to be pulled back through the knot. But by deliberately removing the bow portions from under the bow retaining clips, the bows can be untied in a conventional manner. These functional bow retainer clips are small and decorative, and can be used as attachment points for jewelry charms, if desired.

Abstract: A fastener for preventing undesirable, accidental loosening of a shoelace during use. The fastener includes a holder piece made up of a serrate shank to be inserted through an eyelet of a shoe and an integral flat head adapted for pressure contact with the inner surface of a flap of the shoe. A fastener cap is put into engagement with the serrate shank on the outer surface of the flap for fastening purposes. A washer is interposed between the flap and the fastener cap and provided with the first through hole free passage of the shoelace and the second through hole for free passage of the serrate shank.