- Title: Bosnian Serbs make shoes for Melania Trump's White House march
- Date: 29th August 2016
- Summary: BANJA LUKA, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA (AUGUST 29, 2016) (REUTERS) **** WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **** FACTORY WORKERS WORKING AT "DEMA" SHOE PLANT WOMAN WORKING ON PIECE OF LEATHER WOMAN OPERATING LEATHER PROCESSING MACHINE BOOTS IN FOREGROUND, WORKERS WORKING IN BACKGROUND WORKERS OPERATING MACHINES WOMAN PUSHING CART WITH FINISHED BOOTS SHOE SOLES WORKERS WORKING AT S
- Embargoed: 13th September 2016 15:37
- Keywords: USA election Trump Melania
- Location: BANJA LUKA, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
- City: BANJA LUKA, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
- Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Topics: Human Interest/Brights/Odd News,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA0014X6I893
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A Bosnian Serb factory on Monday (August 29) presented two pairs of shoes as a gift for the wife of U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Slovenian-born Melania, in a gesture of support for Trump's White House campaign.
"[T]hey might be nothing special but they were made with special love and care and a wish for change, and gratitude for the hope they are giving us for better future. We have chosen the best and the prettiest materials and we inlaid them with our trademark "Zmijanski" embroidery on the insole - a little special thing our other shoes don't have," Dema shoe factory manager Marinko Umicevic said.
Many Serbs in the Balkans support Trump and are ill-disposed to rival Hillary Clinton whose husband Bill backed NATO air strikes on Bosnian Serb positions towards the end of the 1992-95 Bosnian war. He also advocated a 1999 NATO bombing of then-Yugoslavia to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanians.
"We don't want to go too much into politics, actually this is all apolitical," Umicevic said about the gift.
The gesture is also a support for the "lady from the region" - Melania Trump was born and raised in the former Yugoslavia before its native Slovenia split apart in the 1990s.
The shoes, to be sent to the U.S. by express post, were displayed for media on a stand in a display of white roses. One pair is gold-coloured, with cushioned soles fashioned, according to Umicevic as "working shoes" to help Melania follow her husband's campaign across America. The others are white stilettos for a triumphant walk into the White House.
Umicevic said the shoe moulds were made by a factory in Melania Trump's hometown of Sevnice and designed by Bema's best shoe designers. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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