Sneakerheads on Trump’s ‘Never Surrender’ gold shoe: ‘Tacky and very, very dumb’

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.

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.

Related: Trump’s trial calendar becomes clearer – as do his delay tactics

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.”