Why Ivanka finally closed her fashion brand
Last week, the First Daughter called time on her controversial fashion range. Tamara Abraham reports…
WHEN IVANKA TRUMP launched her label in 2007, it was a hit. It wasn’t the most exciting fashion offering, but its message of female empowerment and affordable, work-appropriate shoes, bags and clothing satisfied a gap in the market for career-focused young women.
Today, its image could not be more different. Last week, after two years of boycotts and anti-trump campaigns, Ivanka announced that she would be closing the business to focus on her role as White House senior advisor to her father.
The President’s divisive policies – including a ban on travellers from five Muslimmajority countries – have had a devastating effect on Ivanka’s sales. One by one, stockists dropped her products. The remaining retailers can’t get rid of stock fast enough, and G-III, the company that manufactures and distributes Ivanka Trump clothing, was found to be relabelling garments with the name Adrienne Vittadini.
‘The fashion community tends to lean democratic and a large majority, myself included, was disappointed that Ivanka wasn’t as strong a voice in the administration for women’s and family issues as we had hoped,’ says Tracey Manner, principal at New York fashion PR agency Think. ‘It wasn’t surprising that her retailers were put in an uncomfortable position.’
While the brand made £37 million in 2016, research by Rakuten Intelligence found that online sales fell by 27% between June 2016 and June 2017, and by 55% in the year ending June 2018.
There were ethical issues, too, in that a person who holds public office cannot use their position for private gain. Though Ivanka handed the running of her company to Abigail Klem and transferred assets to a trust, she still made more than £4.4 million from the brand last year. And when Ivanka wore a £8,239 diamond bracelet from her own collection for a TV appearance, customers received a marketing email telling them how they could shop the look.
What’s more, the Trump administration has actively promoted Ivanka Trump’s wares. When Nordstrom dropped the brand, Kellyanne Conway told reporters to ‘go buy Ivanka’s stuff ’ in a TV interview, while the President slammed Nordstrom on Twitter for treating his daughter ‘so unfairly’.
Ivanka will continue to own the copyrights, trademarks and intellectual property for the brand, but it’s unlikely we’ll see a revival any time soon. In a statement, she said, ‘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.’
Tracey adds, ‘I hope that now that the company is closed she will be able to play a more active role in women’s and family issues and be that voice we were looking for in the beginning and still need.’