Abstract: A tongue of an article of footwear is split into two pieces having an upper and lower section. The lower section is built into/a part of the footwear as it is fixedly attached to a vamp and/or throat of the footwear such as of a sneaker. The upper end is removably attachable to the footwear along a straight line (line of demarcation) between the upper and lower pieces. This straight line extends generally horizontally. The upper end of the lower region of the tongue and the lower end of the upper region of the tongue have fastening mechanisms designed/configured to removably attach the upper and lower regions to each other along a horizontal axis.