The granny knot is the standard and most well-known technique for tying shoe laces. If you are tying your shoelaces with a granny knot, the laces tend to sit vertically (from heel to toe), instead of horizontally across the top part of your shoe like a bow-tie. There is also a higher likelihood that your laces will come undone. It also looks a little off when wearing a clean dress shoe. This produces an unstable and aesthetically incorrect bow-like knot which is referred to as 'granny knot.'