Ivanka Trump’s clothing line has found itself in the crosshairs of American politics, with people opposed to the president calling for a boycott and administration officials telling people to go buy it. But those either trying to avoid supporting the brand or patronizing it may have a hard time because some of its clothes are being sold under a different name.
Ivanka Trump-brand clothing is being relabeled Adrienne Vittadini Studio and sold at Stein Mart discount stores, Business of Fashion reports. This was being done by G-III, which owns the right to manufacture and distribute Ivanka Trump clothes, without telling the brand.
“G-III accepts responsibility for resolving this issue, which occurred without the knowledge or consent of the Ivanka Trump organization,” a representative for G-III told Business of Fashion. “G-III has already begun to take corrective actions, including facilitating the immediate removal of any mistakenly labeled merchandise from its customer. The Ivanka Trump brand continues to grow and remains very strong.”
Adrienne Vittadini is not affiliated with the Ivanka Trump brand but is similarly sold at department stores like Macy’s, Dillards, Lord & Taylor and Stein Mart, according to Refinery29. It is licensed by Authentic Brands Group.
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It’s unclear why G-III relabled the Ivanka Trump clothing, but there are several theories. The company could have wanted to avoid selling it at Stein Mart, to prevent the brand from being associated with a discount retailer. This practice is legal and has been common to keep a brand’s reputation high while it is popular. But Business of Fashion reports that this happens less often now that several large department store chains like Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom have their own discount stores like Saks Off Fifth and Nordstrom Rack.
Stein Mart has 290 stores around the country. According to Glamour, G-III couldn’t say whether the relabeled Ivanka merchandise had been sold anywhere else.
The other is political. Retailers like Nordstrom have dropped the Ivanka line, citing poor sales, as customers who disagree with President Donald Trump’s policies call for a boycott. Nordstrom’s action led the president to criticize the company on Twitter and adviser Kellyanne Conway to plug the brand in a television interview, in a possible violation of ethics laws. Conway gave “a free commercial” for Ivanka in an appearance on “Fox & Friends” and that same day, sales of the brand spiked 219 percent from the day before.
My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person -- always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 8, 2017
But Stein Mart denies that the relabeling was related to politics.
“We’ve had both labels for a while. We may see more Adrienne Vittadini in the short term,” Stein Mart CEO D. Hunt Hawkins told Business of Fashion. “I’ve had an equal number of customers say that they don’t want and do want the Ivanka Trump merchandise in the store.”
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