Given strength and size and other properties that carbon nanotube ropes would need have... Wouldn't a carbon nanotube shoelace be like the worst idea ever? ...strong as a steel cable, but so thin as to be hard to see and handle. And brittle and not so good at bending. => First it slices up your hands when you tighten it and then it breaks when you tie it :)
I believe the expectation regarding carbon nanotubes in the sphere of space elevators is that they would be woven and layered into a sheet of human scale; these sheets would be used to construct a curved ribbon for the gondola to climb.
You could apply the same principle and weave a bootlace from them, but the limits of current technology would render that an exceedingly expensive bootlace.
Given the amount needed for a space elevator, it better be cheap as shoelaces. At 10s of thousands of miles they should have more than enough on hand to disrupt the shoelace market.
Its going to be very interesting when carbon nanotubes are combined with cloth.
Ripstop cloth is a mix of plastics and line giving a fexible cloth that is very very strong. Its also airtight so you can inflate it (for a time - its not 100% without a bladder)
