People Are Pissed Because They Think New Balance Supports Donald Trump

    But it doesn't — it just agrees with him about the TPP.

    News arose Wednesday that clothing brand New Balance supports President-elect Donald Trump. This is not true.

    New Balance: "The Obama admin turned a deaf ear to us & frankly w/ Pres-Elect Trump we feel things are going to move in the right direction"

    New Balance vice president of public affairs Matt LeBretton, quoted above by journalist Sara Garmano, told BuzzFeed News that while the quote was correct, he was taken out of context.

    "The statement [quoted by Sarah Germano] is correct in the context of trade, not talking about large geo-political anything, but in the context of the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement."

    "It's inaccurate. Everything I've said is in the context of trade."

    Germano's tweet was picked up by Sole Collector, a popular sneaker blog:

    .@NewBalance is the first major sportswear company to publicly back president-elect Donald Trump:… https://t.co/Kfiyg2kYst

    The error led to outrage among sneaker fans across Twitter.

    New Balance has a history of opposition to the TPP dating back to April, but LeBretton said the company is not interested in "getting involved in the politics of presidential elections."

    "My statements aren't political, this is policy related solely to TPP. I've spoken on the record to The Boston Globe and other sources about our opposition to Obama's footwear tax and the TPP."

    While New Balance isn't actually celebrating Trump's win, that didn't stop plenty of people from reacting to the news.

    @newbalance @NewBalanceUSA is publicly supporting @realDonaldTrump. No more #NewBalance shoes for me. Garbage.

    Some tweeted out videos of themselves throwing New Balance shoes in the trash, others shared pictures of themselves trying to light the shoes on fire.

    Lmfao RT @stretchd: Sad day @SoleCollector @NewBalance