I can’t get over the fact that former President Donald Trump showed up to Sneaker Con this weekend and debuted a pair of sneakers.
Red soles and tacky gold shoes, man, I wish Christian Louboutin could make red soles his trademark, but the Stars and Stripes motif doesn’t bother me. Not all essential kicks are flies. Look at Kanye West’s ugly Yeezys.
I don’t mind the $400 price tag either. Louis Vuitton charges $1,300 for a luxury copy of Converse. So Trump being a politician, fashion and politics have forever been strange bedfellows.
What disturbs me is that the former president’s gold sneakers, while flashy, are a clear nod to the hip-hop culture he has spent years disparaging. Yes, I know. Why isn’t Trump’s Sneaker Con appearance about him connecting with his peers through his shoes? Why is he bringing up race?
In fact, without hip-hop culture, sneaker culture would not exist. And without American black culture, hip-hop would not exist.
Trump is a friend of neither. In fact, Trump and many of his Republican supporters are actively trying to purge black culture from American society, most egregiously through continued attempts at voter suppression and book banning. Many say black people benefited from slavery. Black history, they argue, is not American history.
But is sneaker culture ripe for acceptance?
The hypocrisy is astonishing.
Or is it? President Trump’s colonization of sneaker culture is entirely brand-based. All 1,000 pairs of limited edition Trump sneakers made by my CIC Ventures LLC sold out, netting the company at least $400,000 in profit. The sneakers are not designed, manufactured, distributed or sold by Donald J. Trump, the Trump Organization, or any of their affiliates or individuals, according to the website. However, Trump reported ownership of CIC Ventures in his 2023 financial disclosure.
Sneaker Con was founded in 2009 by brothers Alan and Baris Vinogradov and their friend Yuming Wu with the purpose of spreading sneaker culture around the world and providing a place for sneakerheads to buy and sell sneakers. Currently, Sneaker Con is held in 30 cities and boasts over 4,000 exhibitors and over 300,000 attendees. Annual revenues are reported to be in the millions. Just as so many black businesses were burned down in America in the early days of Jim Crow, stifling economic growth, this important part of sneaker culture has been erased from history. There is no mention of.
Alan Vinogradav is a documented supporter of President Trump, donating approximately $1,570 to the former president’s political fundraisers in one year.
I can’t let Trump and the cats at Sneaker Con ignore the black history of sneaker culture, especially in Philadelphia, home to some of the most passionate sneakerheads I know, and especially during Black History Month.
In 1982, Nike named No. 76 Moses Malone as one of five NBA players to introduce the Air Force 1 to America, and the white-on-white Force became Philadelphia’s unofficial kick. Many say the sneakers were the catalyst for Philadelphia’s sneaker culture. But his 1986 single “My Adidas” from RUN-DMC really gave birth to sneaker culture, the practice of buying sneakers not to wear to play sports, but to covet and style. .
Over the past 40 years, countless brands, from Puma to Converse, LA Gear to Etonics, Nike to New Balance, A Bathing Ape to Reebok, have painstakingly released styles that appeal to hip-hop enthusiasts. As hip-hop-inspired sneakers became more popular with rappers like Alan Iverson and baseball players, the shoes became more valuable.
There was a time when President Trump favored hip-hop artists for giving street cred to a shady businessman born in Jamaica Estates. Black rappers continued to use Trump in their music even after President Trump took out an ad in a New York newspaper calling for the conviction of the Central Park Five, five black teenagers who served 13 years in prison for a crime they didn’t commit. He kept mentioning the president. Trump was a symbol of wealth. A role model. He was the epitome of life’s purpose.
But despite the fact that rappers worshiped President Trump’s golden altar, Trump has spent the past decade denying black history, lynching black men and forcing them out of school. We have been running campaigns that remind us of the days when it was OK to do things like do things or pay money. He advocates for laws that would give black men fair wages but make it harder for black men to vote and learn about black history.
It’s disingenuous for Trump to call himself a friend of sneaker culture while standing on the podium at Sneaker Con.
But what else is new?