Ivanka Trump calls time on eponymous fashion brand

By

Robin Driver

Published
Jul 24, 2018

US president Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump announced on Tuesday that she is shutting down her namesake fashion label, with sources citing frustration related to the restrictions she placed on the company to avoid conflict of interest.

A company spokesperson stated that the decision to close the label “has nothing to do with the performance of the brand and is based solely on Ivanka's decision to remain in Washington indefinitely.”
 
Ivanka Trump formally departed from the brand in January 2017 to avoid conflict of interest as she stepped into a new role as senior White House advisor shortly after her father was elected as US president.

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At this time, Ms Trump reportedly also placed a number of restrictions on the brand, which included preventing it from undertaking international expansion and requiring the company to discuss any potential deals with domestic partners with its founder.
 
According to a company source cited by the BBC, these restrictions were hobbling the brand’s progress and terminating operations seemed like the fairest decision for all involved.
 
Having first launched a jewelry line in 2007, Ms Trump founded her fashion brand in 2014, seeing initial success distributing apparel and accessories through hundreds of department stores throughout the US.
 
However, since her father’s election, the company has repeatedly come under fire from the US president’s opponents, leading to problems ranging from negative press to all-out boycotts.
 
Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, HSN and ShopStyle, among other retailers, have all dropped the Ivanka Trump brand over the last few months and, in November of last year, the label ranked among the bottom ten for consumer perception in a YouGov BrandIndex study.
 
Another recent controversy arose when the brand received seven highly-coveted Chinese trademarks just days before Donald Trump announced that he would protect Chinese telecom company ZTE’s operations in the US, prompting questions about possible backdoor negotiations. 
 
Although the brand is shutting down, current licensing deals will be maintained until the end date of the agreements.