The first time my dad saw a pair of Maison Margiela Tabi boots he turned to me, nodded, and quietly whispered, “What the fuck are those?”

It was my graduation day, meaning we had photos to smile for and silly flat hats to throw into the air, so I didn’t bother lecturing him on how this is a traditional Japanese work shoe that my favorite fashion designer had ingeniously transformed into leather boots during his 1989 debut collection. His genuine shock has stuck with me, though. Tabis are kinda freaky!

They turn a human foot into a hoof, splitting the big toe from its compatriots. But practically everyone has seen a pair of Margiela Tabi boots by now, since every major city is awash with these leather toe shoes, and their diversity has swollen accordingly to include Margiela tabi welly boots, tabi loafers, tabi high heels… there are even Margiela tabi exhibitions. And it’s more than split-toe shoes that have become inescapable, there’s now an accompanying swelling of split-toe sneakers. 

Tabis are so normal, that NikeSKIMS is doing them.

This is a collaborative line between the world’s biggest sportswear company and the world’s most famous reality TV star (AKA: Kim Kardashian), which makes it about as mass-market as a fashion collaboration can get. And yet they chose Nike’s left-field tabi sneaker for their debut sneaker.

The SKIMS shoe is a Nike classic from 1996, the Air Rift, but it’s long been one of Nike’s little-known oddities. Now, though, Nike’s dropping tabis every other week from unhinged polka dot colorways to surprisingly adorable hairy versions. 

Kiko Kostadinov, arguably the driving force behind ASICS current popularity, dropped the ASICS ILARGI F one month after the NikeSKIMS Air Rift, recreating ASICS’ tabi marathon shoes from the 1950s as a modern-day runner. The ASICS Lyasa FF followed it on April 11, a Kostadinov-designed tabi slip-on covered in psychedelic patterns. 

One week, it’s leather tabi surf sneakers for summer. Next, Japanese denim label FDMTL is rolling out tabi Vans skate shoes. 

These are far from the first Tabi sneakers to exist — Maison Margiela has long offered split-toed sneakers, as have Japanese shoemakers like Sweet Villains and Suicoke — but it’s a mainstream proliferation from some of the world’s biggest footwear brands. 

This hoof-like sneaker phenomenon rides on the coattails of its crazier close relative, the toe shoe. Toe shoes go one step further than the tabi, properly exposing the wearer’s dogs by wrapping around each individual toe rather than only the one. Vibram Five Fingers barefoot toe shoe runners are selling out, helped by the heightened visibility from Balenciaga and OTTO958 collaborations, while Coperni is creating its own versions in-house. It's against this backdrop that the tabi sneaker is thriving and no longer feels quite so divisive. 

Put a tabi sneaker next to a foot glove, and suddenly, they don’t look all that weird.

Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit HS Shopping for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.