Hooves out: Why tabi sneakers are everywhere now
All my life, Vans sneakers have pretty much looked the same: they came with those chunky rubber soles, white shoe laces, and a round-toe design. Sure, Vans would play around with the colour of the soles or the laces, but that round toe detail stuck. That is, until a few weeks ago, when Japanese fashion label FDMTL did the unthinkable and cleaved that classic toe box, resulting in yet another split-toe sneaker for fashion bros to lose their minds over.
FDMTL’s designer, Gaku Tsuyoshi, had good reason to do such a thing. Tsuyoshi founded his label in Tokyo over 20 years ago, offering really cool, handcrafted denim pieces reimagined with traditional Japanese techniques like boro patchwork and contrast sashiko stitching. Over the years, FDMTL became a cult favourite among Japanese denim enthusiasts.
With FDMTL’s Fall/Winter 2026 collection, Tsuyoshi again showcased the wonders of Japanese craftsmanship, this time as a statement against AI. In his show notes, the designer shared, “In the not-so-distant future, AI may surpass human intelligence, and the landscape of our world may change dramatically. At this moment of transition, we present a collection created by human hands, accompanied by music performed by humans.”
Tsuyoshi didn’t elaborate on his latest Vans collaboration, but one can trace FDMTL’s spin on the Vans Authentic sneakers back to the jika-tabi, the split-toe, sock-like, rubber-soled shoes that blue collar workers wore in 20th-century Japan. FDMTL’s Vans sneakers remind us that before Martin Margiela sent his first Tabi boots down the runway in 1988, split-toe shoes were already a thing in Japan.
FDMTL’s Tabi-fied Vans couldn’t have come at a better time. Now that most people are no longer offended or shocked by Maison Margiela’s hooved shoes—there’s even an exhibition on Margiela Tabis happening in Chengdu right now—a whole new market has opened up for split-toe sneakers, allowing us to introduce a shoe style once deemed Satanic to our everyday wardrobe.
For example, Nike has spent the past year reviving the Air Rift, its own camel-toe sneakers from 1996, which were designed to offer the same natural movement observed in Kenya’s barefoot long-distance runners. The new Nike Air Rift shoes are clearly not meant for such athletic ambitions: today they come in sexy snakeskin, leopard prints, and even polka dots (Peggy Gou has a pair of the latter).
London designer Kiko Kostadinov, who always seems to know exactly what men want to put on their feet, referenced Onitsuka Tiger’s Marathon Tabi runners from 1953 for his latest ASICS collaboration, resulting in the Ilargi FF. Another noteworthy design from Kiko Kostadinov’s ASICS collaboration that is sure to sell out is the Lyasa FF, a split-toe slip-on shoe.
Both Kostadinov and FDMTL’s Gaku Tsuyoshi have been creating sneakers with ASICS and Vans, respectively, for close to a decade, but 2026 is when we’re finally seeing them offer Tabi-fied creations. Clearly, they think the world is ready for them now, and we have Maison Margiela to thank for making us embrace the idea. In 2021, under John Galliano’s creative direction, Maison Margiela teamed up with Reebok to introduce its first Tabi sneakers. At the time, the brand gifted a pair to Kim Kardashian, who posted about it on Instagram, and the shoes went viral.
Today, Kardashian is selling her own split-toe shoes through the NikeSKIMS collaboration: the Air Rift Mesh and the Air Rift Satin, as seen on Blackpink’s Lisa. (The shoes, inspired by ballet flats, come with a pointed and split-toe design, which led to the Instagram user thebarefootshoeguide questioning their wearability, and comparing the footwear to shapewear.)
What’s next? Split-toe Puma Speedcats? Or Tabi-fied Birkenstocks? In 2026, anything is possible.
This article was written by Pameyla Cambe and first published on Lifestyle Asia Singapore on April 10 2026.