I felt I really have to bring my usual real life footwear into SL, and that is now done. So yes, I modelled and textured these jikatabi from my own feet - from pictures I took. I usually wear black ones, but I specially bought a white pair so that the SL product be tintable!
When new or wet, the soft rubber soles of jikatabi will squeak, and I reproduced that in SL too. The sounds are tuneable, for people who like them (or don't like them). It was quite a challenge to record them (^^;) But I was told it's a good selling point... ?
About the title to this post and the vendor text... In Japan, jikatabi are typically worn by people who move a lot and need a good grip: construction workers, gardeners, festival participants, pilgrims and bōsōzoku/yankees. Most Japanese people have never worn them. Too bad! They are light, they breathe and dry well, and their sole give you tactile contact with the ground and prevent you to slip.
Moreover, they look ninja, but that is because the ninja footwear and the jikatabi have a common ancestor: the tabi, the japanse socks. The ninja wore waraji (straw sandals) under tabi. The jikatabi is a 20th century invention, when the Bridgestone (formerly Nippon-tabi) company tried to sew a rubber sole under tabi for the coal miners in Kyūshū, hence the name chika/jika, "underground". But they are becoming a ninja thing anyway, as I saw ninja actors in Iga wearing them...
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