Local business takes heat over Trump shirt
TROY, N.Y. » Threatening phone calls, nasty messages and negative online reviews are still pouring in at Troy Cloth & Paper, a local retail store and screen printing business that’s receiving criticism for having a single T-shirt on its sale rack over the weekend.
The shirt - a size small red tee featuring the name, face and campaign slogan of President Donald Trump - was a leftover from the 2016 presidential election, and was not supposed to go out for retail sale, said Troy Cloth & Paper manager and partowner David Langer, who became involved with the company in September of 2016.
It was a test print shirt of an order placed by a cus- tomer who also ordered shirts for then- candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, presumably with intent to sell them at area election rallies.
After sitting in a box for about two years, during which Troy Cloth & Paper moved from its River Street location to its current 38 Third St. home in downtown Troy, the single shirt made its way onto a $5 sale rack that was set up
outside of the retail shop on Saturday.
“It was never meant to go out in the first place,” Langer said, but it did - and now the company is facing a great volume of backlash after a Facebook post sparked a social media frenzy.
Before it hit the internet, though, Langer and other Troy Cloth & Paper employees experienced the reaction in person.
“He came in, he was yelling and angry. He called me a Nazi in the store,” said Langer, who is Jewish, and neither a Democrat nor Republican.
Whenthe customer came back, he moved the shirt from the outside sale rack to a rack inside the store filled with shirts that were the same color, and took a photo that would later be posted on social media.
“He moved it intentionally to make it seem like we’re actively selling it,” Langer said. He believes photographing the shirt on an inside rack filled with other red shirts was meant to make it seem like there were multiple Trump shirts, when there was really only one, the manager said, and the others on the rack featured Uncle Sam.
“When this all happened, I knew right away he was going to post to social media,” Langer said. “I knew this was going to blow up in our face.”
At 1:33 p.m. on Saturday, Facebook user Daniel Micah did indeed post the photo, with text saying “Troy Cloth & Paper is selling Trump shirts now. Furthering the propaganda of the racist demagogue, our so- called president, is not a good look. It’s really a disgrace that this locally owned small business is one more spot on the boycott list.”
The poster did not respond to a Facebook message requesting further comment, and has not publicly replied in any of the consequent online conversations. The post went on to receive nearly 100 comments and 82 shares in the days to follow.
Additionally, more than a dozen accounts have left Facebook and Google reviews of Troy Cloth & Paper this week. Some call the business racist, some say they plan to boycott it, and one said it doesn’t deserve to be in business in the community.
“People have been calling, messaging nonstop,” Langer said. “People are threatening us, threatening to protest us. I’ve had every type of hate letter, voicemails.”
Regarding the threats of potential harm, Troy Cloth & Paper has informed its legal team, which is evaluating if any action should be taken. “I know I have a target on my back,” Langer said.
On the other hand, a lot of Trump supporters have lauded the business for selling the “Make America Great Again” shirt, even offering to buy it.
In response to the situation, Troy Cloth & Paper hired a public relations firm and posted this on Tuesday morning:
“As some of our customers and fans have noticed, there has been some online discussion about a T-shirt that was on sale at Troy Cloth & Paper recently. We’d like to address that matter.”
“The shirt in question, which featured then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, was made available for purchase in error during such a clearance sale. Like many businesses, at Troy Cloth & Paper we occasionally hold clearance sales to clear outdated inventory at sale prices. This is in line with our commitment to being zero waste as well as offering our customers great deals. This single shirt was never intended for retail use of any sort, and it has been removed from the sales floor.
At Troy Cloth & Paper, we are not about making political statements. We are about creating great quality greeting cards, art prints and clothing in an eco-friendly manner. The display of this item was a mistake for which we apologize, and promise not to repeat.”
This caused even more controversy, receiving criticism from many commenters who thought an apology for selling the shirt was not necessary.
Langer called the whole situation “a silly little event,” but it could be something that affects the company’s bottom line. He’s heard from some current customers that they won’t be doing business with Troy Cloth & Paper anymore.
“I think we’ve been impacted,” Langer said, “but this is not something that’s a one day deal, this is something that’s going to ripple on in time.”
While media coverage has helped in explaining what happened, Langer said. “It doesn’t change the problem.”
Looking ahead, Langer said Troy Cloth & Paper’s plan for the future is simply to remain as neutral as possible. While the custom printing side of the business will continue taking orders with political subject matter - for customers from both Democratic, Republican and other parties - these items will not be displayed or sold on the retail sales floor, even as discounted inventory clearance. “We’re going to do a better job to ensure that political shirts, or any things, don’t get put out like that,” he said.