Trump Sneakers Are the Perfect Con

(Composite / Photos: GettyImages)

Today’s first item captures the mad-libs quality of 2024’s news cycle: Over the weekend, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivered a speech to a chorus of boos at Sneaker Con, where he was hawking a line of new, high-priced signature high-tops.

Most of the news coverage poked fun at the shoes’ garishness, the equal parts hostile and supportive crowd, and the fact that Trump debuted the shoes right after a jury determined he committed widespread fraud and is now on the hook for $450 million. But as a sneakerhead myself who’s dabbled in the shoe resale market, I wanted to take a closer look at the sneakers themselves. My interests haven’t intersected like this since the time I ran into Tim Gunn during the 2019 speaker of the House vote.

So here are some observations about the release of what some have jokingly called the Air J6ers. First, while Trump’s presence at Sneaker Con, an annual gathering of sneaker resellers, might at first glance seem random, it makes a bit more sense when you look at the convention’s cofounder and CEO, Alan Vinogradov. According to campaign finance records, Vinogradov made simultaneous donations to Trump’s presidential campaign and the Trump Save America joint fundraising committee last year in April, and he made slightly larger donations to both again in August. Totaling around $1,570, the sums weren’t particularly large, but they’re notable for being the only political donations Vinogradov has ever made. And combining this material support for Trump’s campaign with Vinogradov’s pedigree as a CEO who oversees a successful brand means the Sneaker Con head would have an easy in with Trump and his inner circle.

Second, it’s important to understand that the online sneaker market is Grifter City. Pure garbage is upsold for insane amounts over the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP). This excess value is determined by a number of different factors: scarcity, what’s currently (and fleetingly) considered “cool,” and unpredictable events—for example, the sighting of a celebrity wearing the yet-to-be-released kicks.¹ Scarcity is the only factor that is in any way quantifiable, which is one of the reasons the online sneaker market is so volatile that it makes cryptocurrency look like the S&P 500.

In addition, shoes are often obtained by unscrupulous (if not illegal) means. Dedicated sellers will game online drops with bots, teenagers will camp out in front of stores before they open, and, in an example I find particularly galling, non-skateboarders will swarm skate shops to buy up shoes many skaters would prefer to rip to shreds by actually wearing them.²

Lastly, if you’re not already sitting down, please take a seat before reading this next sentence: Donald Trump occasionally lends his name to inferior products for the sake of a quick cash grab.

To my eye, the Q Trainer 1s Trump sneakers appear to be cheap wholesale shoes with some shiny branding stitched on the sides. They don’t carry the material heft associated with premium sneakers, such as soles made by top-tier Italian producers like Margom or Vibram.

It’s also telling that they are years behind the current sneaker trends. Design time for anything in the world of original fashion can vary a lot: Many designers will work for three to six months on a collection, while others move at their own pace, sometimes taking years.

The team behind Trump’s MAGA Stan Smiths appears to have borrowed their design of the shoe from the waning days of the George W. Bush administration. The $399 gold “Never Surrender High Top Sneakers” are reminiscent of the Adidas high-tops designed by Jeremy Scott and popularized by rapper Lil Wayne during the late 2000s. Meanwhile, Trump’s other two sneakers—a $199 design that comes in red (“T-Red Wave”) or white (“POTUS 45”)—bring to mind the sock-style shoes that have been around for decades but took the sneaker market by storm in recent years thanks to innovative designs by Kanye West, the disgraced antisemitic rapper and producer whose long, fraught collaboration with Adidas changed the sneaker industry. 

Both of the Trump styles are very much out at the moment. The top sneakers right now are either chunky runners—for example, New Balance 9060s or the Asics GEL-Kayano 14—or slimmer-profile shoes like Adidas Sambas or Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66s. Sock-style sneakers and Hope and Change–era high-tops have moved from fashion’s avant garde to its rear detachment. When styles go out, their aesthetics trickle through the market and result in products that look the way the Trump sneakers do to those who know the source material: watered down versions of the original designs. This is certainly not an original observation, and top fashion influencers have also noticed. Fashion influencer Mark Boutilier even called them the “Air Fraud Ones.”

On a more technical level, the disclaimer on the official website of 45footwear, the company marketing Trump’s sneakers, makes it clear that this is indeed just a branding ploy:

“Trump” and the associated design are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of CIC Ventures LLC. Trump Sneakers are not designed, manufactured, distributed or sold by Donald J. Trump, the Trump Organization or any of their respective affiliates or principals. 45Footwear, LLC uses the Trump name, image and likeness under a license agreement which may be terminated or revoked according to its terms.

GetTrumpSneakers.com is not political and has nothing to do with any political campaign.

I pulled 45footwear’s business records to see if they might give a fuller picture of what’s going on with the sneakers. The company was established as an LLC less than three weeks ago by a man named Andrew Pierce, an attorney specializing in asset protection who has apparently set up over 5,000 LLCs on behalf of various clients. What’s more, it was incorporated in Sheridan, Wyoming—a state the Washington Post describes as “one of America’s most secretive tax havens” where LLCs and shell companies enjoy “tax breaks, legal protections and privacy safeguards.” CIC Ventures, from which the trademark license comes, is registered in Florida as a foreign LLC. As this LLC smokescreen suggests, Trump’s sneaker venture is following a money ploy template that Trump has used for decades, allowing for quick profit with little to no effort.

Perhaps Roman Sharf, the gray-market watch dealer who snagged an autographed pair of Trump sneakers for the low price of $9,000 at Sneaker Con, would have benefited from this information prior to making his purchase. Then again, I have a feeling he wasn’t putting up four-figure bids for the shoes because he’s a real sneakerhead.

If you’re in the market for a fresh pair of high-quality kicks but don’t want to pay pet ransom prices or signal a commitment to anti-democratic politics when you wear them, tag me on Threads or Instagram. Just let me know what sort of thing you’re looking for, and I will enthusiastically send recommendations.

The Hunt for Red Oktoberfest

Congress is off this week, and during the break, a number of U.S. lawmakers have traveled to Germany for the annual Munich Security Conference, where all eyes have been on America’s dysfunctional legislature. 

Lawmakers attending the conference have been bombarded with questions about a discharge petition, the complex and lengthy process by which a dissident bipartisan de facto majority of lawmakers in a chamber can force the de jure majority’s leadership to hold a vote on legislation those leaders are otherwise unwilling to bring to the floor. 

“I’ve heard more about a discharge petition in the last two days from foreign leaders—at the highest levels—than in my prior eleven years in office combined,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told Punchbowl News. 

Punchbowl also noted how Republicans attending the conference have been peppered with questions about what exactly is holding up the $60 billion in Ukraine aid approved by the Senate that would easily pass the House if it were brought to the floor for a vote. Republicans have demanded that foreign aid be linked to immigration policy (while simultaneously blocking compromise border bills, naturally), and the GOP’s nongermane demands have befuddled European officials:

This message no longer seems to be working with the European Union, which just approved a €50 billion economic aid package for Ukraine. Some GOP supporters of the Senate bill, like Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), tried explaining the border dynamic to other foreign leaders but lamented that “they don’t see the connection.”

Most of the U.S. lawmakers attending the conference in Munich are supportive of Ukraine aid and understand the ramifications of inaction. But one Republican in attendance is firmly not in this camp: Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio.

While in Munich, Vance has made a point of talking to the press about his opposition to assisting Ukraine, citing “no clear end point” for the war and claiming the Senate-approved aid would not “fundamentally change the reality” on the ground. 

According to Politico Europe, Vance also refused to meet with Zelensky and the rest of the Ukrainian delegation in Munich, saying: 

I didn't think I would learn anything new. I’ve met the Ukrainian leadership before, and it just didn’t work in the schedule

Credit to Vance that he actually attended the conference, notwithstanding his decision to avoid the Ukrainian delegation he’s spent the week criticizing. Most of the lawmakers he’s aligned with have spent the week back in their districts or schmoozing with Trump in Florida, as House Speaker Mike Johnson did.

As I explained last week, discharge petitions entail a long and complicated process. It’s far more common for them to fail before making it to the floor than to become law. They are much more effective as a pressure mechanism on the chamber’s stubborn leadership than as a backdoor means of producing successful legislation. But based on the Ukrainian cause’s bipartisan support in the Senate, a heavily motivated minority in the House, a dwindling corps of Republican defense hawks who might have built consensus on the issue in another era, and the concerned attention of a clear-eyed international community, this might be one of the best chances in years for a discharge petition to succeed. 

1. Often a celebrity who was paid to wear the sneakers, and then photographed by the paparazzi, in a sponsored Instagram post, or in the NBA tunnel. 

2. This also makes it hard for skateboarders who want to use their sneakers as they’re intended. An example: I won a pair of Jordan 4 Retro SBs in a raffle that I wanted to skate in more than anything, but the resale value was so great it would have been financial malpractice not to sell them. So I never even laced them up and instead collected a handsome profit. Poor me, I know.