By 
Ivanka Trump’s fashion company is no more. On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported the first daughter, and special assistant to the president, was shutting down her eponymous clothing and shoe company.
Though she had formally separated from the day to day management of the brand, Ivanka still owned the company through a trust. But she reportedly decided to close the business out of frustration over ethics complaints and accusations of conflicts of interest that came with her position in the White House.
In some shape or form, Ivanka has been in the fashion industry for more than a decade. Here's a brief timeline of the rise and fall of the Ivanka Trump fashion brand.
2007: Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry opens a store on Madison Avenue in New York City. Ivanka partnered with a diamond wholesaler for the company and licensed her name. “We are making sales every day,” she tells the New York Times. “It’s encouraging.”
September 29, 2011: InStyle reports Ivanka is set to launch her clothing line, focusing on women’s office wear at an affordable price point. Sales would begin at department stores like Macy’s and Lord & Taylor the following February. Also in 2011, her boutique is relocated downtown to SoHo, into a larger space.
2013: The New York Times reports the Ivanka Trump brand sold about $75 million worth of shoes, handbags, and other products at wholesale, making her around $4 to $5 million richer.
June 16, 2015: Donald Trump announces he will run for president.
October 2, 2015: Racked reports Ivanka’s SoHo boutique quietly closes, though it was unclear exactly when the store’s last day was. That left the brand with a store in Beijing, a fine jewelry shop in Trump Tower, and wholesale business.
October 11, 2016: Activists Shannon Coulter and Sue Atencio start #GrabYourWallet, a campaign to boycott businesses that sell Trump family branded products. The project, which is still active today, calls on those opposed to Trump’s politics to contact businesses and ask them to stop selling Trump goods—or risk losing their business. The campaign contributes to many stores dropping her products over the next year.
November 8, 2016: Donald Trump is elected president of the United States. After the election, Ivanka's company sees a spike in sales. Overall, sales of her products were up 21 percent in 2016 compared to 2015, according to the New York Times. She joins her father’s transition team, and takes a role as an informal adviser as he enters the White House.
November 14, 2016: Ivanka appears on 60 Minutes wearing a $10,800 bangle from her brand’s fine jewelry collection. After the broadcast, her company controversially sent out a “style alert” promoting the fact that Ivanka wore the bracelet. The company responded, blaming a “well-intentioned marketing employee” who wasn’t familiar with new protocol.
January 9, 2017: Ivanka steps down from her brand, and from her role as executive vice president of acquisitions and development for the Trump Organization.
February 12, 2017: Nordstrom announces it will no longer offer Ivanka Trump products at its stores. Though the company insisted the decision was purely financial, as the brand was underperforming, conservatives called it a political move, and President Trump tweeted in his daughter's defense. Kellyanne Conway even responded to the decision by promoting Ivanka’s brand on Fox & Friends, a move that may have broken ethics rules. As a response to the backlash, Ivanka’s perfume becomes a top seller on Amazon.
March 13, 2017: The Ivanka Trump brand announces it will discontinue its line of fine jewelry, and instead focus on its lower-priced, mass-market accessories.
March 20, 2017: The New York Times reports Ivanka formally separated herself from the day to day operations of the company, but kept her ownership through a trust. That trust, which is overseen by brother-in-law Josh Kushner and sister-in-law Nicole Meyer, was valued at more than $50 million in 2017. Because of ethics restrictions, her company could no longer expand internationally and she had to approve any new partnerships, the Wall Street Journal reported.
March 29, 2017: Ivanka takes a formal position in the White House, but without pay. She makes the decision after complaints about conflicts of interest and ethics concerns. Her title becomes assistant to the president, while her husband, Jared Kushner, has the title of senior adviser.
April 24, 2017: G-III Apparel Group, which manufactures and and distributes Ivanka's line, mistakenly sells it at discount retailer Stein Mart under the label of a different designer without Ivanka's company knowing. It's unclear whether it was just a mixup with labels, a decision to boost sales, or a way to make the label seem less downmarket.
December 15, 2017: Ivanka Trump’s company opens a new store in Trump Tower. Its goal was to engage directly with consumers instead of dealing with retailers, who were increasingly dropping the brand. Visitors to Trump Tower could pick up handbags, jewelry, and candles.
July 24, 2018: The Ivanka Trump fashion brand announces it is shutting down. Abigail Klem, who took over the company from Ivanka, told her 18 employees Tuesday the company would close, the Wall Street Journal reported. Ivanka reportedly shut the company down due to frustrations over conflicts of interest and increased scrutiny. Going forward, the company will let licensing deals expire, but will continue to apply for trademarks to protect Ivanka’s name.
“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 told the Journal. “So making this decision now is the only fair outcome for my team and partners.”
