U.S. President Donald Trump’s affinity for Florsheim shoes took over the internet earlier this week when a Wall Street Journal feature uncovered his love affair with the brand.

The Journal reported that Trump has been gifting footwear to agency heads, lawmakers, White House advisers and VIPs. “The president has taken to guessing people’s shoe size in front of them. He asks an aide to put in an order and, a week later, a brown Florsheim box arrives at the White House. Trump sometimes signs the box or attaches a note of gratitude, according to people familiar with the ritual,” the Journal said.

But the irony of this development is that it comes after a December lawsuit from Florsheim parent company Weyco Group filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade against the federal government in hopes of getting a refund from Trump’s imposed tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

On the company’s fourth quarter 2025 earnings call last week, Weyco Group’s chief financial officer Judy Anderson noted that the company paid approximately $16 million of incremental tariffs in 2025.

Weyco Group chief executive officer Thomas Florsheim added on the call that for an extended period during the second quarter, the company faced tariff rates that rendered trade with China, its largest sourcing country, “commercially prohibitive.”

“Because the second quarter is a primary manufacturing period for our key fall shipping window, this created a strong likelihood of disrupted deliveries to both our wholesale partners and our direct-to-consumer business,” Florsheim said on the call. “By strategically keeping production running on key programs and holding finished goods overseas, we positioned ourselves to deliver nearly 100 percent of our fall shipments on time once tariffs were reduced to commercially viable levels.

The CEO added that throughout 2025, new tariffs increased the cost of its products by 19 percent to 50 percent, resulting in gross margin compression despite a 10 percent increase that took effect in July. But he said that the company has made “significant progress” in diversifying its manufacturing base to be less China-centric.

When reached by FN, a Florsheim representative declined to comment on both the Wall Street Journal article and the ongoing lawsuit.

Florsheim is just one of many footwear brands that have been a favorite among U.S. Presidents. Companies like Johnston & Murphy have been donned by several presidents like Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and John F. Kennedy. The Genesco-owned brand has also been worn by Warren Harding, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnston, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

In more recent history, President Trump made headlines in 2024 for his own line of signature sneakers, which he unveiled at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia. The president, who was then the 2024 Republican presidential candidate, shared his passion for sneakers during the launch.

Past presidents have also been seen in sneakers from Hoka, Skechers, Nike, Adidas, New Balance and Asics, among others.