Ivanka Trump, the 34-year-old eldest daughter of Donald Trump, has often been called his secret weapon. She has granted only a handful of interviews, including one with People Magazine, where she spoke of the difficulty in balancing campaign duties with motherhood, helping her brothers run the Trump Organization in their father's absence, and managing her own brand. While her father's retail collaborations have failed since he started his political campaign, hers appear to be thriving.
Her clothing line, a collection of mid-priced work-appropriate women's clothing, did $100 million in revenue in the last fiscal year. G-iii, the $2.3 billion apparel giant that manufacturers and distributes her clothing line, notes an increase of $29.4 million from the year before. Her licensing deal with the New York-based distributor is comparable to the much larger deal which transformed Jessica Simpson from a pop singer into the face of a $1 billion retail empire. She approached the company after her fashion partner HMX was on the brink of bankruptcy in 2012.
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Her name helped brand agents to see her as a symbol of wealth, luxury, and success. Her apparel hit shelves in 2014, with department store chain Lord & Taylor as the line's biggest customer, as opposed to Macy's, which sold her father's licensed menswear. Her $100 million in revenue is impressive. For comparison, former child stars Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's high-end clothing line, The Row, is reportedly closer to $50 million.
Ivanka is very involved with the brand and in all stages of the design process. She's very sensitive to her products and mirrors her father's stance about reclaiming manufacturing jobs from China. She approached G-iii about making an effort to move the manufacturing of her label to the United States. The move would potentially eat into some profits, but wouldn't make much difference in retail prices, which currently top out at a reasonably priced $158 dress. G-iii believes her brand will continue to thrive and be able to pull in closer to $250 million.
Ivanka also licenses jewelry with Diamond Dynamics, handbags with Mondani, eyewear with B. Robinson, and footwear with Marc Fisher. Her footwear line was recently hit with a claim of stealing copyrighted designs: https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/celebrity/ivanka-trump-sued-over-sandal-design/
