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- Ivanka Trump's fashion company is shutting down. Here's the full story of the first daughter's business from its founding to the end.
Ivanka Trump's fashion company is shutting down. Here's the full story of the first daughter's business from its founding to the end.
Trump made her first foray into the fashion business with the launch of her fine jewelry company. She opened her first boutique on Manhattan's Upper East Side in 2007.
At the end of 2010, she launched her new collection of shoes, which included 150 styles from "office-friendly pumps and special-occasion looks to sandals and sneakers," Footwear News reported at the time.
Source: Footwear News
The shoes were sold at department stores such as Macy's and Lord & Taylor.
Shoes and handbags paved the way for her apparel collection, which launched in 2011 just after her first child, Arabella Rose, was born.
"I wanted to build a strong and sustainable collection that is not overly trend-conscious," Trump told InStyle.com in 2011. "I wanted timeless glamour."
To this day, the brand has aimed to offer chic but affordable clothing for women. "I wanted the price points to be accessible, but ultimately we're in the business of luxury, and these looks are consistent with that larger messaging," she told InStyle.
It's for "those who might not have the luxury of a wardrobe change to match the many different hats they wear throughout the day," the company notes on its website.
The clothing collection, with pieces that cost under $200, was initially rolled at Lord & Taylor, Macy's, Dillard’s, Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom.
Around the same time that year, Trump moved from her glitzy boutique on the Upper East Side into a larger space in Soho, where she sold jewelry, handbags, shoes, and apparel in one place.
"The black, white, and coral interior — complete with a glittering Schonbek chandelier, stingray display cases, and white leather furniture — is meant to be inviting, rather than daunting," The Cut wrote in 2011.
"There's still a luxury sensibility, but not to the point of being off-putting," Trump told The Cut. "So often, jewelry retailers in the luxury realm have used intimidation to their advantage."
The store quietly closed in 2015.
The brand doesn't have to disclose its financials as it is a private company. In 2016, G-III, the apparel giant that manufactures and distributes Trump's clothing, told Forbes that the Ivanka Trump clothing line had generated $100 million in retail revenue in the past year.
Source: Forbes
Trump has served as the brand's main ambassador over the years. This didn't change when her father first said he would be running for president in June 2015.
During the presidential campaign, she showcased her own products.
Trump took the stage during the final day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland wearing one of her own $138 dresses. The day after, the dress had sold out.
According to The Wall Street Journal, online sales surged at the company in 2016 and early 2017 after the brand was thrust into the limelight during the election.
In October 2016, Shannon Coulter started the #GrabYourWallet hashtag to encourage people seeking a way to take concrete action against President Donald Trump to boycott companies — large and small — that do business with his family.
Trump started to distance herself from the brand, separating her own social media from the company's. She stopped promoting the clothing and accessories in public.
Brands such as Nordstrom, Jet.com, and Gilt dropped her products. At the beginning of 2017, Trump stepped down from day-to-day operations of the business and was replaced as president by Abigail Klem, who had been with the company since 2013.
She placed her company into a trust run by family members and continued to receive a share of its profits.
When Nordstrom dropped the label, President Trump came out in defense of his daughter.
Nordstrom said that the brand's declining sales led to its decision.
In the days after Nordstrom's decision, other retailers including Neiman Marcus and Belk also stopped selling Ivanka's fashion line. Despite this, a spokesperson from Ivanka's business said that sales were increasing. "The Ivanka Trump brand continues to expand across categories and distribution with increased customer support, leading us to experience significant year-over-year revenue growth in 2016," Rosemary Young, a senior director of marketing, told Business Insider in a statement in February 2017.
Source: Business Insider
But market research firm Slice Intelligence said that Ivanka Trump products had seen a 26% dip in sales in January 2017 compared to January 2016.
These items found their way onto the shelves of off-price and thrift stores.
In the past few months, the boycott-Trump movement gained momentum as backlash to the president's immigration policies has grown.
In July, Canadian department store Hudson's Bay became the latest retailer to drop Ivanka Trump's label, citing performance as the reason.
On Tuesday, Trump said she would be shutting down the business.
"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," Trump said in a statement. "So making this decision now is the only fair outcome for my team and partners."
But Trump's line of clothing, shoes, and accessories will continue to be manufactured and sold by the company's licensing partners, a representative for the brand said Tuesday.
That means shoppers will continue to be able to purchase Ivanka Trump products at retailers including Lord & Taylor, Dillards, Bloomingdales, Zappos, Amazon, and Von Maur, among others, for at least several months.
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