Republican presidential candidate, former US President Donald Trump blows a kiss to an audience member during a Get Out The Vote rally at the North Charleston Convention Center on February 14, 2024 in North Charleston, South Carolina.
Win Mcnamee | Getty Images
If anyone was waiting for the other shoe to drop in the next presidential race, former President Donald Trump just did, launching his own line of tennis shoes on Saturday.
“I’ve wanted to do this for a long time,” Trump said as he announced the launch of a line of sneakers at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia.
“I have some incredible people working with me on some things and they came up with this… and I think it’s going to be a great success,” he added.
In his brief remarks at the sneaker launch, Trump indicated that the line may be an effort to reach younger supporters, saying, “We’re going to change this country fast. We’re going to turn this country around. And we’re going to remember the young people and we’re going to remember the Sneaker.” With.”
He was greeted by a mostly enthusiastic audience, although occasional boos permeated the applause.
The line, called Trump Sneakers, is available for pre-order online.
Features three different pairs of tennis shoes: a pair of high tops, a pair of red slip-on athletic shoes, and a pair of white slip-on athletic shoes.
The high-tops, which are gold and decorated with a “T” on the outside of each shoe, are called the “Never Surrender High Top Sneaker” and are priced at $399 online. The sneakers, which feature a “T” and number 45 on the sides, are priced at $199.
The website selling the sneakers also features a “Victory47” perfume and cologne on sale for $99 each.
Sales of sneakers, perfumes and colognes have nothing to do with Trump’s presidential campaign or the Trump Organization. The former president’s name, image and likeness were licensed to CIC Ventures LLC to sell the sneakers.
President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign mocked the sneaker launch, with communications director Michael Tyler saying, “Donald Trump showing up to sell bootleg Off-Whites is the closest thing any Air Force has One for the rest of his life.” .”
This is not the first time Trump has licensed his name, image and likeness to sell products. In 2022 and 2023, he entered into a licensing agreement to sell NFT trading cards. Those cards were produced and sold by NFT INT LLC, which had a licensing agreement with Trump to use his name and likeness.
Sneaker Con, the place where Trump debuted the sneaker collection, is an event that began in 2009 and has become one of the most important events within the broader sneaker culture that has exploded in recent decades.
With the rise of sneaker culture, designer shoes have moved beyond athletes to musicians, actors and more. Some politicians are now considered “sneakerheads”, which is a slang term for people who tend to wear particularly desirable sneakers. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., reportedly has somewhere around 150 pairs of collectible sneakers.
Sneakers directly associated with politicians are rare. There are a pair of Nikes designed for former President Barack Obama, but only one pair is known to exist and Under Armor made a pair for him with the presidential logo that Steph Curry wore to a game.