Discount Retailers Have Been Selling Ivanka Trump Clothes—But Under a Different Label
The licensor of Ivanka Trump-brand apparel has been selling the products under a different label, the industry website The Business of Fashion reports.
G-III Apparel Group, Ltd., which owns the right to manufacture and distribute Ivanka Trump apparel, said in a statement to the site that it sold goods, relabelled as "Adrienne Vittadini" merchandise, to discount outlet Stein Mart without the knowledge of the Ivanka Trump brand. The licensing firm also said it is already taking "corrective actions" to address the label changes.
“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 said in a statement to The Business of Fashion. “G-III has already begun to take corrective actions, including facilitating the immediate removal of any mistakenly labelled merchandise from its customer. The Ivanka Trump brand continues to grow and remains very strong.”
G-III did not specify why the label switch occurred, and it is not known whether the inventory was sold to retailers other than Stein Mart. The Business of Fashion reported that, according to a source within Stein Mart, "the retailer has received negative feedback from customers regarding Ivanka Trump product, with one customer spitting on a blouse in front of a cashier before storming out of a store." But that might not be the reason the items were relabelled. Or it might not be the only reason anyway. A Stein Mart rep did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Money.
The website reports that relabelling is not illegal, but notes that numerous retailers have been pulling Trump-branded items from their shelves in recent months.