Ivanka Trump is pulling the plug on her namesake fashion brand.
The Ivanka Trump line of apparel and shoes has been suffering declining sales for some time and been dropped in the last year and a half by the likes of Nordstrom (JWN) and HBC’s (HBC) Hudson’s Bay department store chain. The Ivanka Trump fashion brand was also the target of a boycott campaign called Grab Your Wallet aimed at retailers carrying her wares.
Trump had formally stepped away from the fashion company in early 2017 when she entered the White House as a senior adviser to her father, President Donald Trump, as required to avoid conflicts of interest. Ivanka Trump herself has become a lightning rod for her father’s policies and her prominent role in his administration.
For instance, many consumers took issue with the fact that Ivanka Trump brand products are largely manufactured in China even as her father has vilified U.S. companies that manufacture their products overseas. (The recent tariffs imposed on China by the Trump administration reportedly exempted Ivanka Trump products.)
“After 17 months in Washington, 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 on Tuesday in a statement to different media outlets.
In addition to Nordstrom, HBC, Neiman Marcus Group, and TJX Cos’ (TJX)T.J. Maxx also pulled back on the Ivanka Trump products they carried.
While the fashion brand’s sales surged in 2016 and early 2017 on heightened awareness at the height of Donald Trump’s election campaign and subsequent victory, they have seen their fortunes change since, according to the Wall Street Journal. Ivanka Trump’s is a private company and doesn’t report sales, but according to data provided to the Journal by Rakuten Intelligence, online sales at a number of top retailers fell nearly 45% in the 12 months to June.
