Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, is pulling the plug on Ivanka Trump, the purveyor of womens’ fashion.
After a year and a half of sporadic controversy over potential conflicts of interest, Trump, a White House adviser, said Tuesday that she would wind down the company. She made the decision after some big-name department stores dropped her brand, but said in an emailed statement that she did it as a mercy to her employees.
“I do not know when or if I will ever return to the business, but I do know that my focus for the foreseeable future will be the work I am doing here in Washington, so making this decision now is the only fair outcome for my team and partners,” Trump said in an emailed statement.
The brand depended on Ivanka Trump as a symbol of aspiration and possibility, selling dresses, shoes and accessories meant to signal confidence without pushing fashion’s envelope. But politics brought scrutiny. Most of her products were made overseas even as Donald Trump decried outsourcing and threw up tariffs meant to keep jobs at home. China granted the company trademarks, bringing accusations of favoritism and emoluments. In the end, the company will join a long list of defunct Trump enterprises, including casinos, magazines, steaks and ill-fated Trump University.
“I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone,” said Gabriella Santaniello, founder of retail consultancy A Line Partners. “Her wholesale business has been contracting for well over a year now. You need retailers to have a wholesale business, and given how it’s been received by the public, a lot of retailers don’t want to wade in politics.”
Trump launched her fine jewelry brand in 2007, adding footwear in 2010 and handbags the following year. The company expanded into apparel in 2013 and outerwear, eyewear and fragrances one year later. By 2016, there was denim, activewear, fashion jewelry and even baby bedding, a company spokeswoman said. Much was made by Marc Fisher Footwear and G-III Apparel Group Ltd., which also makes clothes under the Donna Karan and Karl Lagerfeld brands.
Washington Bound
In March 2017, Trump was named an adviser to her father, taking no salary and leaving the business in the hands of a caretaker. According to her public Facebook page, she focuses on “job creation, economic empowerment, workforce development and entrepreneurship.”
Her role hasn’t been clearly defined, although she’s expressed interest in family leave and was prominent in discussions about the tax system. She attended the W-20 women’s summit in April 2017 and led a U.S. delegation to India in support of women’s entrepreneurship.
As her identification with the administration grew, her business waned. T.J. Maxx last year told employees to eliminate Ivanka Trump signs in its stores. Some retailers pulled merchandise from their websites while continuing to sell them in stores, downplaying the brand while avoiding the ire of activists and labor rights groups that said Chinese workers that made the goods were underpaid and underprotected.
Trump Backlash
When Nordstrom Inc. in February 2017 said it would stop selling her merchandise, Donald Trump said on his personal Twitter account that his daughter was being treated unfairly. This month, Hudson’s Bay Co. said that it would stop selling the goods at its Canadian namesake stores, citing slow sales.