New Balance is having a terrible PR week.
The sneaker company has been on the defense ever since it was labeled the “official shoes of white people” by a white supremacist website after one of its directors made comments seemingly praising President-elect Donald Trump’s win.
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The shoe company released a statement on Monday saying that it “does not tolerate bigotry or hate in any form” after The Daily Stormer praised the shoe company for being the “official brand of the Trump Revolution.”
The scandal began last week, when one of its vice presidents Matt LeBretton said that “things are going to move in the right direction” with Trump as president, adding that the Obama administration had “turned a deaf ear” to New Balance. However, New Balance says that he was speaking about the Trans Pacific Partnership, pushed through earlier this year, and the likely effects this trade dof coureal will have on the shoe company, CNN reports.
— New Balance (@newbalance) November 15, 2016
“One of our officials was recently asked to comment on a trade policy that was taken out of context,” New Balance said in a statement this week.
The damage was done: angry customers took to social media to burn their shoes to protest the perceived pro-Trump comments.