These would be small "draw catches" with a hook on each end, designed so that each hook could fit into the grommet that a shoe lace would normally go into.
[edit] As per bigsleep's suggestion, each catch would be adjustable.
However, unlike shoe laces, which need to be loosened every time you take your shoes off, and tightened every time you put your shoes on, draw catches would only need to be loosened as your feet grow, and only need to be tightened as your shoes become stretched out.
Since it needs to be adjusted so infrequently, and by such a small amount at a time, adjustment could be done using a worm gear (similar to what's used on a hose clamp).-- goldbb, Apr 04 2009 (???) A draw catch looks like this http://www.amazon.c...N208587-Draw-Catch/ [goldbb, Apr 04 2009] Are not most fire fighter and military shoes already much like this? there is a zip-lock mechanism for opening/closing the shoe daily, and that zip-lock is attached to the normal grommets by string, adjustable for individual fit.
For hardshell ski shoes / inline skates the system you describe (even the worm gear) is standard-- loonquawl, Apr 07 2009 I'm not proposing integrated draw catch buckles, since, as you said, those are already baked.
I'm proposing draw catches with a hook on each end, so you can attach them to shoes that are designed to be laced.
Think of them as an aftermarket accessory designed to be used as shoe lace replacements.-- goldbb, Apr 08 2009 <somewhat related> I have a fairly strong memory of having worn leather shoes (when I was a very young boy in the late 1950's-early '60s) that had an adjustable latch in place of laces. The latch was like a shoe tongue, but placed on the outside top of the shoe, and hinged at the bottom. A sliding mechanism would pull together the topside edges which had some kind of wire facing, as one lifted the tongue/latch.
I thought they were cool, and I know my Mom liked them for me, because I could put on my own shoes before I learned how to tie shoelaces. They weren't an aftermarket item, but part of the shoe design.
Anyone recall these? Who made them? What were they called? </sr>-- csea, Apr 09 2009 The version for sji-shoes is integrated, but the one for military boots is made with hooks, as proposed-- loonquawl, Apr 09 2009 random, halfbakery