Boots and Laces

As the skinhead subculture emerged in Great Britain in the 1970s, its adherents developed shared styles of clothing, including wearing steel-toed workboots made by Doc Martens or other manufacturers. The boots themselves became weapons used to kick people in fights, leading to the term "boot party," which refers to incidents in which multiple skinheads together stomp and kick a victim.

Wearing such boots was and is typical of racist and non-racist skinheads alike, but racist skinheads commonly use red- or white-colored shoelaces in their boots to identify themselves as white power skinheads. It is also traditional for them to lace boots with "ladder lacing," so that the laces don't cross each other going up the boot.

Within a few racist skinhead circles, white or red laces have to be "earned" by some violent act such as attacking a perceived enemy of the white race. However, most racist skinheads wear red or white shoelaces not because they have committed an act of violence but simply because it is part of their subculture.