US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump on Tuesday said she was shutting her fashion line to focus on her role as an informal White House adviser, where she has focused on advancing working women. Since Trump’s surprise November 2016 election, his family has faced criticism that its portfolio of real estate and consumer goods businesses, which lean heavily on the Trump name as a marker of luxury, conflict with their roles as Washington power players. Critics of the president called the shutting of the brand a victory for a boycott of Trump-tied businesses that began late in the 2016 campaign.
“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,” Ivanka Trump said in a statement on Tuesday. Her company said licensing contracts would not be renewed and those in place will be allowed to run their course. Mid-priced women’s clothing, shoes and accessories were sold under the label. The 18 people who work for the 11-year-old company will be laid off as it shuts down. Trump’s combative style on the campaign trail and as president have drawn the family’s brands into political fights, with some supporters hosting events at the luxury Trump International Hotel blocks from the White House even as opponents stage boycotts.
The president has regularly stopped at properties bearing his name during his time in office, drawing the eyes of the world. Since Trump’s election, retailers including Nordstrom Inc, Hudson’s Bay Co and Sears Holdings Corp have dropped or sharply scaled back their assortment of Trump-branded products, though they typically attributed those decisions to poor sales rather than political messages. Ivanka Trump’s brand said in a statement that retailers, including Bloomingdale’s, owned by Macy’sInc, Dillard’s Inc and Amazon.com Inc, continued to carry her wares.
The most organised boycott of Trump-related businesses, “Grab Your Wallet,” called the news a victory. “This is the biggest possible win for Grab Your Wallet,” the group’s co-founder, Shannon Coulter, a San Francisco marketing executive, said in a phone interview. President Trump has been a loud advocate for domestic manufacturing, prompting criticism that much of the Ivanka Trump line was made overseas, as is the vast majority of clothing and footwear sold in the United States.
