Sneakerheads on Trump’s ‘Never Surrender’ gold
shoe: ‘Tacky and very, very dumb’
The ex-president debuted the high-tops just after he
was ordered to pay $355m in court
Alaina
Demopoulos
Tue 20 Feb
2024 21.11 GMT
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/20/reaction-trump-shoe-sneaker-con
Trump
Steaks, Trump University, Trump Vodka – and now, Trump Sneakers. The former
president is no stranger to frenzied licensing and intense self-promotion, and
the grift continued this weekend, even after a judge ordered him to pay more
than $350m in his civil trial ruling.
His next
move? Debuting the $399 “Never-Surrender High-Top Sneaker”, branded as “the
official” Trump shoe. The 2024 contender stopped at Sneaker Con Philadelphia, a
traveling event for sneakerheads, to reveal the shoe on Saturday. Only 1,000
pairs were made, to make this a super limited-edition run; “at least 10” of
these shoes were “randomly autographed” by Trump.
The
high-tops were produced under a licensing agreement with a company called
45Footwear. Each one comes with a “custom charm” blazed with an illustration of
Trump clad in a tight red superhero jumpsuit, muscles bulging out from
underneath.
During
Trump’s Sneaker Con speech, the Republican presidential frontrunner said “the
most important thing” was “to get young people out to vote”. In 2020,
Pennsylvania’s youngest voters, aged 18-29, overwhelmingly voted for Joe Biden,
with Trump winning only 35% of the demographic.
According
to the Pennsylvania Star-Capital, the Sneaker Con president, Alan Vinogradov,
donated $743 to Trump’s re-election campaign last year, along with $827 to his
affiliated Trump Save America Pac.
But that
didn’t make Trump a popular – or welcome – Sneaker Con guest. Attendees loudly
booed during his speech, and many spoke out against his appearance on social
media. “Sneaker con should be ashamed for uploading this,” wrote one follower.
“No sneaker there, just a con,” another chimed in.
trump
speaking behind sneaker
Sneaker Con
did not respond to a request for comment, though the event did release an
online statement in response to the backlash. “Sneaker Con’s mission is to
support and promote sneaker culture through our worldwide live events and
digital platforms. We are thankful and appreciative of the sneaker community,
and recognize individuals who generate awareness and authentic sneaker related
engagement towards our community. #sneakercon,” it read.
Hikmet
Sugoer, a German sneakerhead and founder of Solebox, a boutique with locations
in six European cities, told the Guardian he was “shocked and disappointed” to
see Trump at the event.
“At first I
thought it was an April Fool’s joke,” Sugoer said. “Sneakers unite a diverse
community around our shared passion, and sneakers should connect us, rather
than divide. This move exploited us for selfish reasons.”
Berty
Mandagie, a commercial photographer and sneaker enthusiast from Seattle, feels
the same way. “Trump has nothing to do with sneakers and sneaker culture
consists of people of color who would not feel safe around someone like Trump
and his followers,” Mandagie said. “The fact that Sneaker Con turned out to be
a Trump rally instead of a sneaker convention is wildly upsetting.”
And what to
make of the shoe design? “I think they’re tacky,” Mandagie said. “They look
spray-painted with a cheap gold color. The font of the ‘T’ is so basic. It
looks like a knockoff shoe produced by Temu.”
Zeke
Hannula, a San Francisco-based sneakerhead and content creator, calls the stunt
“very, very dumb”.
“He just
took the worst parts of sneaker culture and fed into it,” Hannula said. “I
think someone on the Trump team just saw how you can release a small amount of
sneakers and get notoriety for the insane resale prices, and I hate that. This
all seems so cheap and ugly, but that’s very on-brand for Trump.”
Not
everyone agrees with Hannula. Some people really like the shoes – and are
willing to pay above asking price for their own pair. A luxury watch dealer
named Roman Sharf bid $9,000 during an auction at Sneaker Con to secure a pair
of his own, which he plans to give to his children.
A video
posted to X shows Sharf after winning the sneakers, saying: “Of course I have
something to say – Trump 2024!” (Sharf later backtracked in an Instagram post,
writing that he “wasn’t trying to make a political statement” by buying the
shoes.)
On Tuesday,
GQ reported that a Biden staffer had called the sneakers “bootleg Off-Whites,”
referring to the hype-y streetwear line founded by the late designer Virgil
Abloh. Continuing with the sassy sneaker references, the staffer added that the
high-tops “are the closest [Trump will] ever get to an Air Force One ever again
in his life”. (Cringe pandering to the youth vote is a bipartisan sport.)
“It’s like
Trump took the most generic sneaker you could possibly think of and then put
the ugliest possible materials and color way on it,” Hannula added. “It looks
like a cut-and-paste job, not like something that’s been created and
copyrighted – though I wouldn’t be surprised if he ripped off a copyrighted
design, actually.”
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