Nordstrom Dumps Ivanka Trump Fashion Line Amid Boycott

Posh retail giant Nordstrom just dumped Ivanka Trump – or at least her fashion line. The move comes amid a huge boycott effort from grassroots activists at GrabYourWallet.org. The “Grab Your Wallet” phenomenon was originally spawned in the wake of the release of the infamous “Trump Tapes,” in which the then-candidate bragged about his ability to grab women “by the p***y,” because he’s rich and famous and may want to. Created to help outraged Americans avoid doing businesses with establishments that help the Trump family profit, the website features a list of businesses that concerned consumers might want to avoid.

“The hashtag and the movement exploded on social media and has been viewed over 500 million times. Since then, the #GrabYourWallet boycott has grown into a movement and central resource for the flexing of consumer power in favor of a more respectful and inclusive society.”

As RT reports, Nordstrom says dumping Ivanka Trump and her clothing line from its stores has nothing to do with the #GrabYourWallet initiative. However, that hasn’t stopped the organizers of the massive boycott effort from claiming responsibility for Ivanka Trump losing out on a massive business opportunity.

According to the high-end retailer, the decision to stop selling Ivanka Trump merchandise was purely motivated by the brand’s poor performance and underwhelming sales. The company claims that it is standard business practice to make changes to its inventory and the brands it offers, adding that it is routine to cut roughly 10 percent of the brands it carries and replace them with new, more profitable brands.

“Based on the brand’s performance, we’ve decided not to buy it for this season.”

Prior to cutting its ties with Ivanka Trump and her products, Nordstrom had reportedly already made a large purchase from her spring collection. Included among Ivanka Trump items sold at Nordstrom are handbags, shoes, and women’s apparel. All of these items have been stripped from the Nordstrom website, an action that took place on Thursday.

In response to Nordstrom’s claim that it has dumped Ivanka Trump’s controversial line, her brand has issued a statement. As Yahoo News reports, the Ivanka brand is completely disputing the Nordstrom version of events, claiming that the retailer is still selling the line. Citing the Nordstrom order for the Ivanka spring collection, a spokesperson claimed that Ivanka’s items are still “there,” being sold in Nordstrom stores, despite being pulled from the company’s website.

“Nordstrom ordered both apparel and shoes for the spring, and followed through with the orders on the apparel. They canceled the shoe order, kept the apparel order and moved the apparel from online into stores. It’s there.”

Nordstrom is sticking to its version of what went down, claiming that Ivanka Trump’s line was simply not selling well enough to remain as part of the company’s inventory. However, the chain was careful to point out that their decision was not a political one.

“We hope that offering a vendor’s products isn’t misunderstood as us taking a political position; we’re not. We recognize our customers can make choices about what they purchase based on personal views and we’ll continue to give them options.”

At least one unnamed source close to the drama claims that the decision to remove the Ivanka Trump line from Nordstrom’s inventory absolutely was a political one, alleging that the retailer couldn’t handle the pressure and backlash that came along with selling the first daughter’s items.

“They couldn’t handle the political pressure, someone new came in, and there was a change in the attitude toward the brand.”

In addition to Ivanka losing out on her Nordstrom sales opportunity, it is being widely reported that Neiman Marcus has also dropped her brand’s jewelry line.

Regardless of what Nordstrom and/or Ivanka Trump’s people say, the folks at #GrabYourWallet are taking credit for Ivanka getting dumped. According to Shannon Coulter, mastermind of the massive anti-Trump boycott effort, she and her people have been keeping a close eye on the Ivanka Trump inventory levels at Nordstrom.com for months now. She feels that if Nordstrom did pull the line because it’s not selling, the reason it’s not selling can be directly traced back to #GrabYourWallet boycott efforts.

“I am absolutely thrilled, and I know the vast majority of ‘Grab Your Wallet’ participants will be as well.”

Over the course of the anti-Trump boycott effort, Nordstrom has been targeted relentlessly by those who wanted the chain to dump Ivanka Trump products; at least one shopper’s open letter called the items “toxic.”

[Featured Image by Carolyn Kaster/AP Images]