Everyone seems to be splitting their toes
From sock to shoe, the Tabi has stirred enough controversy to turn “ugly” into iconic. Once divisive, now a status symbol—it’s no longer a question of whether you get it. You have to have it.
For years, the Tabi was fashion’s secret handshake: the avant-garde insider shoe worn by collectors, fashion students, and the people who knew Margiela before everyone else did. You either understood the hoof—or stared at it wondering why someone willingly separated their big toe from the rest of the family.
Now the secret is out.
But before Margiela, TikTok, and fashion girls started walking around with what critics lovingly—or not so lovingly—compared to horse hooves, the Tabi had already existed for centuries.
1988: The hoof goes high fashion
In 1988, Martin Margiela debuted the shoe that would become synonymous with his name. Taking inspiration from the traditional Japanese split toe, he transformed the traditionally flat form into something decidedly less practical: a leather ankle boot perched on a cylindrical heel.
And now? Everyone wants a piece of the toe.
The split toe has traveled far beyond its Japanese roots and Margiela’s runway. It has found its way into technical sneakers, ballet-flat hybrids, skate shoes and hiking footwear. Rather than simply reproducing the original boot, brands are taking the basic idea—split the toe—and asking what else they can do with it.
Lyasa FF Tabi
Kiko Kostadinov and Asics have produced the Lyasa FF Tabi, taking the split toe back toward performance footwear. Designed to slip on with ease while giving your toes a little more room to move, the shoe digs into Asics’ archives, reviving a 2008 split-toe design once used for astronaut training and reworking it for the fashion world.
Kiko Kostandinov brings the design back down to Earth and gives it a modern makeover, trading pure function for something sleeker and stranger. Fluid metallic lines sweep across the upper, giving the shoe a sense of movement even at a standstill. More than decorative detailing, the graphics reference Herb Lublain’s 1980s logo concepts for Asics, folding a piece of the brand’s visual history into the silhouette.
So technically, we have gone from traditional Japanese socks to Margiela runway boots to now… space shoes?
NikeSkims Rift Mesh
If Asics proved that a performance shoe could step outside the track and hold its own as a fashion statement, NikeSkims took that idea somewhere even sleeker and much more mainstream.
The collaboration revisited Nike’s own split-toe history through the Air Rift, but filtered it through the unmistakable Skims language: minimal, body-conscious and deliberately sleek. Where the Asics version lets its lines, color and technical detailing do the talking, the NikeSkims Rift strips things back. The split toe becomes less of an eccentric design feature and more of a subtle punctuation mark. Strange enough to catch your eye, but clean enough to work with the neutral uniforms Skims has built its world around.
Margiela made you confront it. NikeSkims makes you think, Wait… could I actually wear that?
And the answer is: yes.
Vansza LX Tabi Hiker
If Nike cleaned the split toe up, the Vansza LX Tabi Hiker roughed it back up again. Gone is the straightforward skate shoe. Unveiled in September 2026 as part of the first full Vansza collection, the LX Tabi Hiker takes the split toe and throws it into yet another universe. The result is rugged, technical and almost otherworldly: part hiker, part water shoe, part fashion experiment.
Or all of the above?
Its low profile and mesh details give some versions the feel of a water shoe, while a chunky lugged outsole, toggle lacing and trail-ready construction pull it toward hiking footwear. It is exactly the kind of shoe that seems difficult to categorize… which may just be the point.
And instead of hiding all that technical construction underneath sensible earth tones we tend to expect from outdoor footwear, the Tabi Hiker goes for it. Three versions have been previewed: brown and green with purple accents, blue and orange with green, and black and red with yellow.
The split toe has gone from Japanese tradition to Margiela runway, from marathon shoe to Skims minimalism, from skate classic to SZA-approved hiker. At this point, brands are no longer asking whether the Tabi belongs outside high fashion.
The next chapter of the split toe has not even hit shelves yet. The LX Tabi Hiker is scheduled to release on April 8, 2027.
From traditional Japanese dress to Margiela’s runway, from astronaut training to Asics, from a 1990s running shoe to Skims minimalism, and now to a SZA-approved gorpcore hiker, the split toe has become much bigger than the infamous boot.
So, are you still thinking, “What are those?” or is it more, “Whose are those… and where can I get a pair?”
