Sam Morrison likes to create thought-provoking art.
In high school, he made silk-screen shirts and decks of cards with secret compartments inside. But over the past several years, most of his projects were digital — that is, until he had the idea last year to make physical flip-flops out of President Donald Trump's tweets.
"Take a scroll through Donald Trump's 40,000 tweets, and you're sure to catch some contradicting opinions," Morrison told Business Insider over email. "I wanted to highlight this hypocrisy."
Morrison had a full-time job in the advertising industry at the time, but he got to work on producing his flip-flops. He sourced his own materials and printed and packaged every flip-flop by hand.
On September 5, 2017, Sam Morrison started selling his Trump-themed flip-flops through a website called PresidentFlipFlops.com.
Sam Morrison
Morrison made 1,000 pairs of flip-flops.
Sam Morrison
He sold every single pair in less than a month.
Sam Morrison
Despite his marketing budget of $0, his flip-flops went viral anyway, getting coverage from major news outlets like MSNBC, HuffPost, Fortune, and the BBC. They also made the rounds on Twitter and Reddit.
Sam Morrison
Morrison said he donated 10% of every purchase to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Sam Morrison
Morrison told Business Insider that the flip-flops were a limited run because of the effort and complexities behind the production.
Sam Morrison
"The minimum order of raw materials was 1,000 pairs and took two months to ship to me," he said. "I hand-printed all 1,000 pairs with a heat press, packaged and shipped everything myself, so it was a very time-intensive project."
Sam Morrison
All told, Morrison made three flip-flop designs, based on three sets of contradictory Trump tweets.
Sam Morrison/President Flip Flops
These are the "Syria Edition" Trump flip-flops.
Sam Morrison/President Flip Flops
In 2013, Trump tweeted to urge President Barack Obama not to attack Syria. In April 2017, Trump attacked Syria.
Sam Morrison/President Flip Flops
These are the "Electoral College" flip-flops.
Sam Morrison/President Flip Flops
In November 2012, Trump tweeted that the Electoral College "is a disaster for a democracy." Almost exactly four years later, just days after winning the 2016 presidential election, Trump called the Electoral College "actually genius."
Sam Morrison/President Flip Flops
Finally, these are the "Sources" flip-flops.
Sam Morrison/President Flip Flops
In 2012, Trump tweeted that Obama's birth certificate was a fraud, based on an "extremely credible source." Four years later, Trump urged people not to believe anyone who cites unnamed sources.
Sam Morrison/President Flip Flops
Despite making only three flip-flop designs, in five sizes, with a price point of about $30, Morrison sold every single Trump flip-flop he made in less than a month. He says they are "permanently sold out."
Sam Morrison/President Flip Flops
Morrison said that people from 47 states purchased the Trump flip-flops, but that given the effort to produce and ship all the shoes while still working a full-time job, President Flip Flops was a limited run.
Should Morrison decide to make more flip-flops in the future, though, he should have plenty of good source material.
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