Resolved: shoe companies should make more Velcro shoes and less shoe-lace shoes.

I will go straight down the flow. CONTENTION 1: Ease. My opponent suggests that, in order to gain ankle support, a lot of velcro would be needed, and it would slip. First of all, I urge him to back these statements up with evidence. Secondly, look at these velcro shoes (. http://www.backcountrygear.com...) (. http://www.bigmen.co.uk...) (. http://www.zappos.com...). These are basketball shoes, dress shoes, and everyday shoes, all of which require ankle support. Yet, people can still use these shoes. The argument he makes is blatantly false. These don't require massive amounts of velcro. In fact, Velcro is very strong (. http://en.wikipedia.org...). This says: "A two inch square piece of velcro is enough to support a 175 lb person. " Now how long is a shoe? Two inches across and a foot long? Only two square inches are needed a 175 pound person. If a person weighs more than that, more Velcro. About 4 straps would be needed to support a 325 person. THAT'S strength and support. Finally, he says with extra straps it would take as long as tying a shoe lace. Not only did I disprove extras straps would be needed, even if it were, it would only take about 5-10 seconds to tighten and strap your velcro. After that, it'd stay. No need to keeping bending down to tighten your shoes. The same cannot be said in the case of shoe laces. CONTENTION 2: Annoyingness, yada-yada-yada My opponent says that if you tie your shoe laces together correctly, they will not come undone. Well yeah, for 5 minutes! C'mon, we've all had to be annoyed by having to bend down and tie our laces. Not only that, you must untie them when you take them off, and if you tie them like CON says, 'correctly', it takes ages to untie them manually when you want to take them off. Second he suggests getting zippers. This is irrational, and I fail to see how this disproves the resolution. Not only would that look ugly, Velcro would be much more sane. It would only take MORE time to tie up your shoe laces, and it would link to all of the economic disadvantages CON talks about later (which I will get to). Third, BTTF2 was actually the BEST in the series. Then the first, then number 3. Next, he mentions that you can make a new tape cap. However, he fails to see that those can come off, too, and still look ugly. Not to mention the dirt that stays under there. But, that was not even my main point. My main point was that it's extremely annoying when your laces come out of the little holes. Especially if they're torn, it is nearly impossible to get them back through. This would not happen, unless done so deliberately, with Velcro. ECONOMICS: My opponent suggests that the global economy would collapse if shoe companies made more Velcro. The collapse of the shoe industry could not cause any sort of collapse, given it is not a central part of the economy and there is a high demand for it. Also, you must note the resolution says that they should make MORE velcro shoes. These woes could happen if they had to immediately switch to Velcro, but the resolution only says that they should make more of them. Hence, it won't cause these dramatic crises because it is such a small increase. As for the machines, I urge CON to show how much a Velcro machine would cost. I would also like CON to show how many companies don't currently have Velcro machines for children's shoes. The reason I ask these things is because I fail to see how something can collapse with an addition. Yes, it will cost money, but shoe companies make different types of shoes all the time. Restaurants re-model and open new chains. Practically every company makes additions. Without these, people would lose interest. Because companies want to provide their service well, they need new things. I say, even if it costs a few bucks, why not? It's technology. Thank you for reading and hopefully voting on this debate.