Research on Acceptance Analysis and Future Development of Tabi shoes

: Tabi shoe is a fashionable classic product, which is enjoyed by many fashionable people. However, Tabi has met with a lot of opposition controversy because of its strange shape and special material. The future develop anticipation and method of Tabi are worth researching. This paper introduces many information about Tabi and Marsion Margiela, including the background, MM’s dadaism and deconstructivism, Tabi’s culture and gender identity, etc. This study uses questionnaire to collect data and responses from individuals, which mostly from teenagers and young people. From these data, it summarizes that the public’s perception of Tabi is polarizing. Most of students under 25 years old want to attempt Tabi shoes, and there is a good trend for Tabi’s future. There are still many people who even do not want to try Tabi. Furthermore, it is good that most people do not have gender discrimination in Tabi’s wearing, but male are far less receptive to Tabi than female, which can lead to future gender disidentification, paradoxically. This paper will benefit more people to understand Tabi, and put forward some suggestions for the future development of Tabi.


INTRODUCTION
The word Tabi Shoe refers to the ancient Chinese socks, which originated in China during the Tang Dynasty.In the 15th century, cotton from China was introduced to Japan, and the Japanese began to manufacture socks on a large scale.To make it easier for the locals to wear clogs, they designed socks in the shape of toes, which we call foot bags or Tabi.
Tabi changed from a sock to a shoe due to the development of the rubber industry, which started with Tabi military boots.It entered the international arena in 1951 when Shiguomo Tanaka won the Boston Marathon wearing the world's first split-toe marathon running shoes developed by Onitsuka Tiger, giving the traditional Japanese shoe shape its first international prominence.At that time, many Tabi shoes were released in the Japanese market.It was then that the bizarre split-toe shoe became known around the world.
The next wave of excitement for Tabi came in 1996, when NIKE released the Air Rift, officially inspired by Kenya's barefoot runners.The shoes were named after the Great Rift Valley, and the first color was inspired by the Kenyan flag.
In 1988, Martin Margiela held his first women's show in Paris, walking on white cotton with red paint on the soles, and Tabi shoes entered the fashion world.Tabi came up with the idea of red footprints on the runway for his debut, fearing that the audience would ignore the nude color of his first pair.From that moment on, this strange split-toe shoe is like this bright red mark, as one of Margiela's symbols, has not been ignored in every Margiela show for nearly 30 years, never absent.In the fall/winter 1989 collection, Maison Martin Margiela's second show, the red footprint of the cotton cloth reappeared as part of the collection.Margiela's idea for Tabi Boots was to create an invisible shoe, inspired by a trip to Japan earlier this year [1,2].
At the same time, loose Mountain Dew and emerging artists are also conducting radical experiments in art forms and media.That's why art happens around us.Everything is art, and anyone can be an artist.At the same time, the civil rights movement, anti-war, hippie culture, rock and roll, Woodstock, Utopian imagination, Eastern philosophy, psychotropic drugs, experimental music, etc., also reached the peak of avant-garde music.Finally, under the background of the Cold War, the space competition, the thinking and exploration of space, the understanding of the essence and ultimate, structuralism, mathematics, geometry, and minimalism also occupy the position of thought and expression.With the development of technology, philosophy, art, film, and music, clothing has also become the ultimate medium of expression.The space-age fashions of Andre Courreges and Pierre Cardin, for example, gave Maison Margiela her first glimpse of the possibilities of clothing.
Tabi's emergence in the fashion industry expresses the spirit of rebellion, embodying innovation and Dadaist aesthetic design.The Tabi is also very controversial in terms of gender, with some men believing that the Tabi is a woman's garment and should be worn by women.This question of Tabi's gender power will be addressed later in this article.It involves issues of equality, patriarchy, and feminism [3][4][5].Tabi is an oxymoron and a unique fashion item with profound social significance [6].

METHODS
Based on the above history and background, Tabi is a type of fashion product that is meaningful to both society and the fashionable personage.However, Tabi is a specialinterest fashion that has a very strange shape for some people.As a result, it is not as popular as some other types of shoes like NIKE and Stuart Weitzman.Therefore, the future development of this specific product is a meaningful topic.This paper will discuss the cultural acceptance and future development of Tabi through questionnaire survey.
This paper mainly adopted the research method of questionnaire survey.The questionnaire mainly involved 12 questions, which includes: gender, age group, occupation(s), dressing style(s), understanding of Tabi shoes, the acceptance of foreign culture, the possibility of wearing Tabi shoes, types of Tabi, the reason of unaccepted for Tabi shoes, the gender of wearing Tabi, and the comments or advice for the future development of Tabi shoes.
The main target is teenagers and young people to predict the development of Tabi shoes.Based on their answers on dressing style, acceptance of this shoe and international culture, and the reason that does not accept Tabi, analyze the future and problems Tabi will face.This study will predict Tabi's future development, so the questionnaire focuses on teenagers and middle-aged people.It mainly studies their acceptance of TABI and suggestions to Tabi.To some extent, based on this feedback of the research, age group acceptance of this kind of shoes, and their style, perceptions of foreign culture, and suggestions on the development of the fashion sheet, this paper would analyze the future of Tabi, such as Tabi transformation into a popular sheet is tasted, the troubles of development, the brand party needs to solve problems.

RESULTS
This paper sets up eight occupations, including professionals (such as accountants, teachers, lawyers, architects, medical workers, journalists, etc.), service professionals (catering waiters, drivers), freelancers (writers, artists, photographers), workers, company employees, public institution staff, students and housewives.Most people in different occupations believe that Tabi is suitable for men and women, especially freelancers and housewives.Their acceptance rate is 100%.Although there are no absolute results in other occupations, the gender acceptance rates of students, company employees and professionals for Tabi are as high as 80.73%, 90.91% and 74.29% respectively.In contrast, Tabi's acceptance rate of gender equality in workers and other occupations is as low as 50%.Another 50% of employees said that men should wear Tabi.It is worth noting that freelancers' acceptance of Tabi and willingness to experiment are 100%.For other occupations, some people dare not wear Tabi.This situation mainly occurs to students, professionals, workers and company employees, with figures of 24.77%, 21.43%, 50% and 36.36%respectively.
There is a close relationship between gender and Tabi.70.83% of women can accept Tabi, which represents the clothing style acceptable to most women.In addition, 22.41% of men thought that women should wear Tabi, while only 10.71% of women thought that women should wear Tabi.Up to 80.95% of women and 65.52% of men think that both men and women can wear Tabi.See Figure 1 for details.Their acceptance is also different.Most teenagers like leisure style.Due to the development of spice girl style, more and more teenagers choose to collect classic style and street style.For people between the ages of 25 and 40, their preferences often suit their style because they need to go to work and attend many important ceremonies.In addition, for people over 40, leisure style is their best choice.Therefore, the style of Tabi, including sports shoes, boots and ballet shoes, is more suitable for teenagers aged 14 to 25.In addition, most people of all ages think of Tabi as "neutral" shoes.The younger under-30s are more open and vague about Tabi's sexual orientation.This indicates that Tabi is increasingly accepted as a "neutral" design, that the fashion industry is rethinking gender issues, and that people's aesthetics have become more diversified.In response to the questionnaire, people in the 31-50 age group are not familiar with Tabi.See Figure 2 for details.However, there are still many people who cannot accept the design of Tabi shoes.The questionnaire illustrates that the receptors' average possibility of wearing Tabi is only 4.53 out of 10, and 21.88% of receptors even do not want to try it.People who think TABI has a very strange shape made up about 52%.Moreover, through interviews with three people of the same age, this study found that most people who know about Tabi get it directly or indirectly from their children.Tabi was more well-known among people under 30, but it was also one of the shyer and least willing to try it out.

DISCUSSION
From the data and analysis discusses above, we can easily get the conclusion that the freelancers have higher gender wearing equality and acceptance for Tabi.Most students also want to attempt Tabi shoes, and there is a good trend for Tabi's future.Almost every occupation shows the gender wearing equality as a majority.Just as a folk singer becomes a rap singer, Tabi's fans are happy for the brand to gain more recognition and growth.But the heart may also be reluctant, after all, that once held in the palm of the baby, now the public "follows" the product.Tabi has become controversial among different professions because of its bizarre shoe shape.Three decades after its debut in the fashion industry, Tabi's split-toe looks have gone from annoying to controversial to wildly popular, making it one of the most successful designs in the world.Judging by previous data, Tabi is as polarized in its appearance as it is in its loathing.But the adulation and abuse of Tabi Boots may have been directed at just one person, a powerful and powerful impression that has stuck after so many years.However, in this research, it is found that the bias against Tabi is decreasing, which shows that Tabi has a great future.Throughout Martin Margiela's controversial and surprising career, the Tabi style has been reinterpreted many times, from clogs to sandals, even sneakers, high boots, ballet flats, etc [7].These different kinds of shoes gave different occupations opportunities to wear them in their daily lives.The silhouette has played a key role in the collection since the spring/summer 1988 runway show, from season to season and from collection to collection, and has been used by the creative director John Galliano, who just announced a deal with Maison Margiela.Tabi's inspiration flow between different materials, fabrics, and colors.
Accordingly, talking about how Tabi cats reflect patriarchy.Patriarchy has been seen as a fashion to reinforce and perpetuate male domination over women.But in reality, patriarchy defines and limits men's appearance, and they are not capable enough to wear what they want.Male chauvinist rules require men to dress like men.More men believe that women should wear Tabi, which leads to the result of the first figure, which shows that men have a lower acceptance of Tabi.Tabi has its style and some women are more willing to try bold fashion items than men.In fashion, men are expected to dress simply and regularly because of patriarchy.Men usually have fewer fashion items than women, which may result in men not having the opportunity and courage to try various fashion items.Influenced by a patriarchal society, some men are subconsciously afraid to try special clothes like Tabi.They are also afraid to spend a lot of time getting dressed because someone might say "they don't look like men" [8].Men should have the same fashion rights as women.Producers can design more fashion items suitable for men so that both men and women have the opportunity to try them.Men should be brave enough to wear what they want, which can help men break the prison of patriarchy.There is an opportunity for improvement on the gender front, but overall, Tabi has done a lot for gender equality.Tabi uses neutral colors such as white and brown.This blurs the concept of gender to a large extent.Even though people can wear whatever color they want, we shouldn't easily define colors based on gender.
However, gender inequality is still a problem, and wearers and designers need to take steps to change it.For example, some women are afraid to wear masculine colors and some men are afraid to wear feminine colors because of some stereotypes and social views.Tabi's colors are more acceptable to both men and women, reinforcing feminism and reducing patriarchal oppression.The design of Tabi is very simple, mainly simple leather, without obvious gender decoration, such as lace, high heels, and three-dimensional cutting.It also helps a lot to make it easier for men and women to get close to baby style.
Maison Margiela, Tabi's founding brand, uses branding to convey Tabi's gender identity.Men and women at Margiela's Tabi show, which is the label's way of telling people that Tabi is free and can be worn by anyone of any gender.Brand publicity and intention in fashion can have a great influence on consumers.Not just Tabi, all clothing should be committed to gender equality and the fashion industry should be more inclusive so that people of all genders are free to wear what they like.
In the design of independent designers, the Tabi splittoe element is also inspired.Abasi Rosborough, a New York-based independent designer whose focus is on futuristic tailoring, has created futuristic Technical Tabi Boot shoes with a street-chic look, based on the split toe shoes worn by samurai in Bushido.Furthermore, VISVIM, a Japanese retro fashion brand with traditional Japanese craftsmanship as its aesthetic tone, also launched Shashiko Folk sneakers with such traditional elements from the country.
In other words, although many young people know more about fashion than older people, they refuse to wear Tabi due to their fashion tastes and style preference.This may indicate, on the one hand, that fashion is becoming more personalized and people are becoming pickier.But on the other hand, it's encouraging to see people being more tolerant of new or different fashion products.With that in mind, let's make a bold prediction about Tabi's future.Over the next few years, with direct and indirect publicity from some wearers, the Tabi's popularity will gradually increase, but it will remain a controversial fashion project due to its unique design.Over the past two years, Tabi has added new elements to his designs, some of them deconstructed design futurism, while others go back in time in search of the primal wildness of humanity.Tabi's designs are becoming more unique and appealing to a small segment of the population.Like other clothing designs, the design of Tabi also needs to integrate physical needs and social culture [9] [10].
As for the advice, because Maison Margiela continues the tradition of the fashion week, Tabi shoe has been on the Maison Margiela's fashion week for 30 years, never absent, so the Tabi has become an icon of the brand.Maison Margiela needs to enhance its brand awareness to expand its audience.In addition, with the rise of entertainment media in recent years, celebrity endorsement has become one of the sales strategies of many luxury brands.

CONCLUSION
Tabi is a type of fashion product that has a long and deep history.From Japan to China, from socks to shoes, from the Marathon race to the fashion show, Tabi has experienced an abundant transformation.Tabi also embodies Dadaism, the destruction of the existing definition of beauty, the destruction of established artistic standards, and the creation of a new beauty.The designer Maison Martin Margiela is one of the most epochal pioneers in history.She has repeatedly broken through the imagination of fashion and integrated the perspective of the art field into the fashion system.One of the reasons Margiela's collections are always shocking is that they always show unconventional, even aggressive perspectives like amplification, repetition, reversal, and destruction.Just like the language of movies, fashion stories and "context" are constructed in the mind of the audience, and even the imagination of ordinary people is often hurt by a sense of "discomfort".Maison Margiela is a gifted designer, her signature deconstructive language and original expression with a sense of unfinished also coincide with many modern and contemporary artistic creation methods since Dadaism.Just as Dadaism is against art, Tabi is a revolt against everything from class differences in fashion to gender identity, from traditional aesthetics to social institutions that explicitly or implicitly constrain human spirits.
Overall, segmentation, targeting, and positioning in the Marketing strategy of Maison Margiela should use a mix of demographic and psychographic segmentation strategies to make its offering available to the target market.Selective targeting strategies are used by the company to promote its offering to the selected customer groups.It has been successful in positioning itself on the emotional quotient as more luxury product companies do and it uses a value-based positioning strategy.From the research and questionnaire answers, the future development of Tabi shoes is hopeful from many perspectives.But for certain individuals who pursue traditions and contracts, Tabi is not a good choice for them.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Acceptance of Tabi by genderThere are 9 different styles of Tabi, including artistic style, street style, grunge style, classic style, minimalist style, suit style, leisure style and preparatory student style.Their acceptance is also different.Most teenagers like leisure style.Due to the development of spice girl style, more and more teenagers choose to collect classic style and street style.For people between the ages of 25 and 40, their preferences often suit their style because they need to go to work and attend many important ceremonies.In addition, for people over 40, leisure style is their best choice.Therefore, the style of Tabi, including sports shoes, boots and ballet shoes, is more suitable for teenagers aged 14 to 25.In addition, most people of all ages think of Tabi as "neutral" shoes.The younger under-30s are more open and vague about Tabi's sexual orientation.This indicates that Tabi is increasingly accepted as a "neutral" design, that the fashion industry is rethinking gender issues, and that people's aesthetics have become more diversified.In response to the questionnaire, people in the 31-50 age group are not familiar with Tabi.See Figure2for details.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Acceptance of Tabi at different ages