Donald Trump has been betrayed by the very company behind a set of discount dress shoes the president literally can’t buy enough of.
Trump is reportedly, and inexplicably, so obsessed with a pair of $145 Oxfords—produced by Chicago-based brand Florsheim that he’s lately taken to forcing White House staff to wear them too. The longtime mall brand’s loafers was worn by King of Pop Michael Jackson.
“All the boys have them,” a female aide told the Wall Street Journal on Monday. “It’s hysterical because everybody’s afraid not to wear them,” another added.
It’s since emerged that Weyco Group, the firm that owns Florsheim, is in fact suing the Trump administration over a matter equally close to the president’s heart: tariffs.
Weyco asked the U.S. Court of International Trade in December to declare the measures “illegal,” and requested a $16 million refund, with interest, on the fees it has already paid. The Supreme Court struck down Trump’s tariffs in February. Weyco’s CEO Thomas Florsheim welcomed the move as “an important step forward.”
Florsheim has been vocal about his opposition to the measures. “The idea behind the tariffs originally was pro-business, and it feels like somehow the pro-business part of this has gotten lost,” he told Spectrum News on Wednesday, claiming that at one point, he was paying more in tariffs than he was to actually produce shoes. “From a business planning standpoint, it’s been almost impossible.
It is unclear whether the president was aware of the lawsuit while pushing the company’s footwear on his staff. Trump reportedly keeps a stack of his cherished Oxfords ready to go, and is understood to have even forced one aide to shelve a set of Louis Vuittons in favor of his chosen budget alternative.
Top officials known to sport the shoes include Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Transport Secretary Sean Duffy, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, comms director Steven Cheung, deputy chief of staff James Blair, speechwriter Ross Worthington and Senator Lindsey Graham. Fox News personality Sean Hannity is understood to have also been gifted a pair.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment on this story.
