Standing up for their beliefs. People are boycotting Ivanka Trump‘s fashion line (and the department stores carrying the clothing) amid the recent sexual misconduct allegations surrounding her father, Donald Trump.
A group of women are joining forces on social media to campaign shoppers to shun the 34-year-old fashion designer’s products as well as several retailers, including T.J. Maxx, Bloomingdale’s, Lord & Taylor, Nordstrom and Macy’s.
Lindsey Ledford, a 29-year-old frequent shopper and student at the University of Maryland University College, told Cosmopolitan that she refuses to shop at her favorite store, T.J.Maxx, because it carries Ivanka’s clothing. The self-proclaimed “Maxxinista” told the website that she was looking at a black blouse at the store one day when she saw the tag was emblazoned with “Ivanka Trump.”
“My first thought was, ‘Grab them by the p–sy. We can do anything we want. Don’t even ask,'” she said, paraphrasing Donald’s now-infamous 2005 Access Hollywood tape, in which he bragged about groping women during a conversation with former cohost Billy Bush.
Ledford, who filed a complaint with customer service, told Cosmo that the blouse at T.J. Maxx triggered flashbacks to her own previous experiences with sexual abuse.
“It doesn’t matter if Ivanka’s name is in front of it, or Donald’s,” she explained. “As much as I love shopping at T.J. Maxx, I can’t stomach seeing that name front and center. Supporting a brand — Trump — that condones sexual assault and makes excuses for it is wrong.”
According to Cosmo, the boycott was started by Shannon Coulter, the CEO of a San Francisco–based boutique marketing agency, who tweeted on October 11: “Not enough to buy Ivanka’s collection. She campaigns for him. We should avoid stores that carry it. #fashionnotfascism.”
“[Women] are ready to give Ivanka a pass because she’s his daughter and it’s hard to be objective about your dad,” Coulter told the news outlet. “But the Trump tape just sent people over the edge. I think [women] took particular offense, as I did, to the fact that Ivanka tries to make feminism a part of her brand but is standing by, as an official campaign surrogate, a guy who is an alleged serial sexual assaulter of women. The disconnect was too big. And [shoppers] were ready to speak up about it and flex their consumer power about it.”
Ivanka, who has been a central part of her dad’s 2016 presidential campaign with husband Jared Kushner, spoke out about her dad’s 2005 comments in a statement published by Fast Company on October 17. “My father’s comments were clearly inappropriate and offensive and I’m glad that he acknowledged this fact with an immediate apology to my family and the American people,” she said.
The Republican presidential candidate, who has now been publicly accused of sexual misconduct by 11 women, has repeatedly denied the allegations and threatened lawsuits against his accusers.
