Former president and 2024 Republican contender Donald Trump could potentially find himself with $355 million in his pocket after losing his latest court case. But his new line of Trump-branded sneakers is proving to be a financial success, at least in the short term.
Now, the question remains whether the shoe will have long-term success in the collectibles market.
The $399 “Never Surrender High Tops,” offered in a limited edition of 1,000, are already sold out, according to GetTrumpSneakers.com, a retail site that says it is not affiliated with any political campaign. Trump unveiled the expensive footwear, done in gold with what is described as a “T” badge and an American flag collar, at Saturday’s Sneaker Con show in Philadelphia.
“This is something I’ve been talking about for 12, 13 years. And I think it will be a great success,” Trump said during the meeting.
Resellers on eBay EBAY,
they’re already selling a pair for between $1,500 and $45,000. However, experts on sneakers and political memorabilia remain divided on whether the shoe can retain its value.
Sneaker collectors, otherwise known as sneakerheads, are known to pay big bucks for the most in-demand shoes. Pairs with a starting retail price between $100 and $300 can actually skyrocket on the resale market — and some can continue to rise for years.
Trump’s $399 “Never Surrender High Tops” are already sold out.
Getty Images
For example, Sotheby’s, the important auction house, reports a series of Nike NKE,
Air Jordan sneakers sell for $15,000 to $32,000. The Michael Jordan brand line was launched in the mid-1980s.
Trump shoes will benefit from two key factors, experts say. The first is Trump’s brand and his loyal group of supporters.
“His fan base is just huge. No matter what he does, he will sell,” said Justin Roper, a sneakerhead who hosts his own conventions across the country, including upcoming ones in Cleveland, Wilmington, Del., and Atlantic City, N.J.
The second factor is the limited run of 1,000 pairs. Put the two together and you have a lot of collectible potential.
Not to mention the absolute uniqueness of the object. “He IS the first president to release a shoe,” said Kenny Berbick, an avid sneakerhead and one of the owners of EB Kicks, which makes a shoe-cleaning solution.
At the same time, what will one day be fashionable in any collecting market can quickly lose its luster. Trump remains a highly controversial and divisive figure. Everyone seems to love Michael Jordan, but Trump clearly has more than his share of haters.
Frank Luntz, a veteran political pollster and communications consultant who has a collection of more than 250 sneakers, wondered whether Trump will end up mass-producing the shoe to the point that it will have little or no value.
“They will be selling for less than $100 a year from now,” he told MarketWatch via email.
As it stands, Trump is already offering two more Trump-branded sneakers — one white, the other red — for $199 each. Both are available for pre-order on the GetTrumpSneakers site.
Tom Peeling, a longtime collector of political memorabilia, said it could take time, even decades, to figure out how much a Trump sneaker will be worth. Only a few presidents — namely Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy — saw lasting value in the collectibles that featured them, said Peeling, who edits the organization’s magazine American Political Items Collectors.
Given this reality, Peeling added that if he had to choose between a $400 Trump sneaker or a $500 Lincoln campaign badge, he would go for the Honest Abe collectible.
“I’m not sure [the Trump shoe] would hold up over time,” he said.
Trump’s 2024 campaign officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment from MarketWatch.