Lace N Loop Straps Review

Lace N Loop Straps Review

Brand

Lace N Loop is a brand started in 2017 who specialise in velcro converters for lace-up boxing gloves. These aren’t the first velcro converters on the market. The problem is, these other straps simply try to function exactly like the strap on velcro gloves, often requiring you to knot the laces up to hold the strap in place.

The Lace N Loop converters work differently. Instead of trying to mimic velcro gloves, they try to work with the laces, allowing you to still get all of the benefits of your lace-up gloves while still being able to put the gloves on yourself. Since the Lace N Loop system was released we’ve spotted other brands copying the design, but Lace N Loop were the first as far as we know.

The guys over at Lace N Loop sent us two sets of their straps – a pair of their Patriotic straps, and a pair of limited edition Red and Black strap – for us to try out and give our opinion on.

Visuals

There are currently four main visual options to choose from; ‘Midnight Black’, ‘Super White’, ‘Black Widow’, and ‘Patriotic’, as well as a Limited edition red and black version.

We’ve been testing out the Patriotic version, which is a clean white strap with red and blue highlights, and the Limited edition version which is black with red highlights. Obviously if you’re sticking a strap around your gloves you don’t want it to look too out of place, but thankfully we found the colour options worked fairly well with most of our lace up gloves. If you go for the fully black or white versions then they’re even more likely to blend in.

The Lace N Loop logo sits right on the front of the straps in red and blue. The logo looks great on both of our colour options, however it stands out a little bit more on the plainer colour options.

Materials and Craftsmanship

The Strap itself is about an inch wide. The first section (which forms the inner part of the strap) has soft velcro on one side and a neoprene/foam-like texture on the other side to grip onto the glove without damaging it. On one side there’s a metal ring punched into the material, which is there you attach your laces on to the strap. On the other side, the strap is extended with an elasticated section which connects to the hard velcro side. The hard side of the velcro is a type of non-abrasive velcro which we’ve seen on other products such as the VIRUS Disaster Combat Shorts.

There’s a tab of a nylon-feeling material on the end of the strap which is used to grip when putting them on and taking them off. The tab means there’s always something to grip on to, but the fact that it’s such a thin material means it’s not going to stick out and catch on anything or scratch an opponent.

Use

I believe there’s a certain type of fit you can get from a lace up glove which you can’t get from a velcro glove. That said, I hate having to ask someone to lace me up, and for quicker sessions (or any session where you’re going to be taking the gloves off a couple of times) it’s often just easier to grab a pair of velcro gloves instead. I’ve tried a few methods of getting around this in the past, including lacing the gloves up just loose enough to slide your hand in, or switching the laces out for an elastic cord, none of which feel quite the same.

The Lace N Loop straps are the first method I’ve found which do give you the same tight fit as lace ups while still allowing you to put them on yourself.

Attaching the straps to the glove is pretty simple. The ends of your laces tie around the metal ring on the inner part of the strap. I’ve found there are a couple of different ways of knotting the laces, but as long as they’re securely attached it works fine.

So when it’s time to put the strap on, you put your hand in the glove, pull the Lace N Loop strap so the laces tighten at the wrist, and then pull the strap around the wrist. Instead of the two laces tying in separate directions like you would usually lace them, you have to wind them around the same way. You then finish up by securing the velcro strap, pulling tightly to make the most of the elastication.

The strap won’t always sit perfectly on the front like in our pictures, which is all down to the thickness of the glove wrists and the length of the laces. On our pair of Rival RS1s, they lined up perfectly, but on some other gloves we tried they ended up with the logo at the side of the hand or the inner wrist. This doesn’t make any difference other than visuals though.

Bonus tip: If you want the logo to face the correct way up on both gloves, make sure you tie both laces around the wrist in a clockwise direction, not opposite directions (which feels more natural).

Putting the first glove on is always going to be a little easier, but I found you get used to doing the second glove pretty quick, and the fabric tab on the end is easy enough to grab a hold of with gloves on. I tend to just get a loose grip of the strap when winding the laces around the gloves, and then try to get a proper grip of the strap the right way around to pull it tight at the end.

Taking the gloves off is a bit quicker, and the tab is again fairly easy to grab a hold of. The tab is thin but fairly large, so I haven’t really found it too hard to get a grip of.

Cost

So these straps cost $19.99, or £14.99 in the UK, which is cheaper than most other types of lace converters we’ve seen. If you’re wearing lace up gloves then chances are you paid a fair bit for them, so paying $20 extra seems pretty minor in comparison, especially when it’s a product like this which helps you get the most out of your gloves. If you’re the kind of person who loves the fit of lace up gloves but really doesn’t have the time or patience to get laced up properly every time, or perhaps even just want to be able to use your best gloves when training alone, then we would definitely recommend these. It’s hard to find any real downside to using them.