Ivanka Trump closing fashion brand

Ivanka Trump, President Trump’s oldest daughter, is closing her namesake fashion brand more than a year after she separated herself from the company to become a top White House adviser.

As first reported by The Wall Street Journal, sales soared in the year of the 2016 presidential election – but retailers including Nordstrom and Hudson’s Bay have stopped selling Ivanka Trump products.

Abigail Klem, the president of Trump’s fashion brand, informed its 18 employees Tuesday that the company would be shutting down. The brand will allow its licensing agreements to expire in the coming months, but it will continue to file trademark applications in certain instances.

The privately held business isn’t required to disclose sales or other financial information, but, according to Rakuten Intelligence, which gathers email receipts from 5.5 million U.S. consumers, online sales of the Ivanka Trump brand sold at Amazon.com, Macy's Inc., Bloomingdale's and Zappos.com fell nearly 45% in the 12 months to June, year-over-year.

According to a company spokesperson, Ivanka made the decision that the business should be wound down, and that the decision has nothing to do with the brand’s performance, but was based on her decision to remain in Washington indefinitely.

Trump separated herself from the management and operations of the company when her father was elected. She retained her ownership interest through a trust. A financial disclosure filed in June showed the trust was valued at over $50 million, according to the Journal.