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After a shortage of leather, "Manufacturers switched to making tabis from cotton and other fabrics. And here is where the shoe started turning into a sock." Sh

After a shortage of leather, "Manufacturers switched to making tabis from cotton and other fabrics. And here is where the shoe started turning into a sock." Shojiro [...] "developed a new kind of tabi made of thick cotton and a rubber sole. They called this a jika-tabi (地下足袋) which loosely translates to “tabis that touch the ground”. This married their expertise in fabric tabis and their experiments with a material that was relatively new to Japan. And turned the sock turned back into a shoe." So basically the most common variation in different times changed depending on available materials and these days cotton tabis are used only as part of traditional dresses.

kizunajp 4y ago
> and these days cotton tabis are used only as part of traditional dresses. And in the construction industry - which I think is very unique to Japan. Don't know of any other country that doesn't use shoes. There are also newer entrants in the running shoes space, like the Toe-bi: https://www.kineyatabi.com/shop/tabi-running-shoes/toe-bi/ https://www.kineyatabi.com/shop/tabi-running-shoes/toe-bi/
- bonzini 4y ago
  My reading of the article (and my understanding of the photo) is that construction workers use modern versions of the jika-tabis.
  - throwawaaarrgh 4y ago
    Unrelated: Roofers in Australia started wearing an early tennis shoe that was cotton canvas with a sole that emulated a rubber tire. It became so popular they made a steel toed version. Only steel toed tennis shoe I know of. https://volley.com.au/products/safety-canvas-black-grey?variant=42344867692732 https://volley.com.au/products/safety-canvas-black-grey?vari... The regular ones are fantastic by the way. Very comfortable, insanely flexible and grippy. But they do tend to fall apart quickly. In AU they're very cheap, but more expensive for us.
- jaclaz 4y ago
  >Don't know of any other country that doesn't use shoes. Not only "shoes", they usually need to be conformant to local safety norms (EN ISO 20345 in Eu) that include a "hard point" (resistant to 200 joule or 20 kg falling from 1 meter height) and - usually - an anti-perforation layer underneath (those used in construction, at least here in Italy are either S1P or S3 type).

kizunajp 4y ago

> and these days cotton tabis are used only as part of traditional dresses. And in the construction industry - which I think is very unique to Japan. Don't know of any other country that doesn't use shoes. There are also newer entrants in the running shoes space, like the Toe-bi: https://www.kineyatabi.com/shop/tabi-running-shoes/toe-bi/ https://www.kineyatabi.com/shop/tabi-running-shoes/toe-bi/

bonzini 4y ago
My reading of the article (and my understanding of the photo) is that construction workers use modern versions of the jika-tabis.
- throwawaaarrgh 4y ago
  Unrelated: Roofers in Australia started wearing an early tennis shoe that was cotton canvas with a sole that emulated a rubber tire. It became so popular they made a steel toed version. Only steel toed tennis shoe I know of. https://volley.com.au/products/safety-canvas-black-grey?variant=42344867692732 https://volley.com.au/products/safety-canvas-black-grey?vari... The regular ones are fantastic by the way. Very comfortable, insanely flexible and grippy. But they do tend to fall apart quickly. In AU they're very cheap, but more expensive for us.
jaclaz 4y ago
>Don't know of any other country that doesn't use shoes. Not only "shoes", they usually need to be conformant to local safety norms (EN ISO 20345 in Eu) that include a "hard point" (resistant to 200 joule or 20 kg falling from 1 meter height) and - usually - an anti-perforation layer underneath (those used in construction, at least here in Italy are either S1P or S3 type).