In case anyone was waiting for the other shoe to drop in the upcoming presidential election, former President Donald Trump debuted his own pair of tennis shoes on Saturday.
“I've wanted to do this for a long time,” Trump said when announcing the launch of a sneaker line at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia.
“I've got some incredible people working with me and they've come up with this … and I think it's going to be a huge success,” he added.
In his brief remarks at the sneaker launch, Trump hinted that the line may be an attempt to reach younger supporters, saying, “We're going to change this country fast. We're going to turn it around. We're going to remember the youth, and we're going to remember Sneaker Con.”
He was often met with enthusiastic crowds, though at times a few cheers broke through the cheers.
Called Trump Sneakers, the line is available for pre-order online.
It consists of three different pairs of tennis shoes: a pair of high tops, a pair of red laceless athletic shoes, and a pair of white laceless athletic shoes.
Each shoe features a gold “T” emblazoned on the outside and high tops, called the “Never Surrender High Top Sneaker” and retailing online for $399. The athletic shoes, with a “T” and the number 45 on the sides, are priced at $199.
The website that sells the sneakers sells “Victory47” perfume and cologne for $99 each.
The sneakers, perfume and cologne sales have nothing to do with Trump's presidential campaign or the Trump Organization. The former president's name, likeness and likeness have been licensed to CIC Ventures LLC to sell the sneakers.
President Joe Biden's re-election campaign mocked the sneaker release, with communications director Michael Tyler saying, “Donald Trump hawks bootleg off-whites, the closest he's ever been to any Air Force veteran. .”
This isn't the first time Trump has licensed his name, likeness and merchandise for sale. In 2022 and 2023, he NFT entered into a license agreement to sell trading cards. The cards were manufactured and sold by NFT INT LLC, which had a licensing agreement to use the Trump name and image.
Sneaker Con, where Trump launched his sneaker collection, is an event that began in 2009 and has become one of the first events in the broader sneaker culture that has exploded in recent decades.
With the rise of sneaker culture, signature shoes have moved beyond athletes to musicians, actors and more. Some politicians are now considered “sneakerheads,” slang for people who rock particularly desirable sneakers. Representative. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., reportedly owns 150 pairs of collectible sneakers.
Rarely are sneakers directly associated with politicians. Have a pair of Nikes designed For former President Barack Obama, however, only two pairs are known to exist, and Under Armor created a pair for him with the presidential emblem worn by Steph Curry.
