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In June 2018, rumors swept social media that Ivanka Trump had adopted the alias Adrienne Vittadini for her fashion brand: The rumor was that Ivanka Trump had completely rebranded her line, often purportedly due to poor sales performance or disinclination on the part of consumers to purchase Trump branded clothing. Across Twitter, responses to Adrienne Vittadini's account (@AVittadini) suggested that many people believed that the line existed solely as a surreptitious outlet for Ivanka Trump's products: However, Adrienne Vittadini was a distinct brand established in 1979 (two years before Ivanka Trump was born) and Vittadini is a real person, not an alias. The claim most often spread without links to any supporting news articles. BipartisanReport.com discussed the rumor on 3 June 2018: That outlet linked to an April 2017 tabloid piece, which in turn was a regurgitation of a 24 April 2017 Business of Fashion article. Originally, the site reported it had obtained photos of identical garments being sold at Stein Mart, with the only difference being ... [s]ome say 'Ivanka Trump' while others say 'Adrienne Vittadini.' But that initial report touched on precisely how Ivanka Trump's line came to be wearing the label of a different designer: Business of Fashion further explained that relabeling designer brands is a common practice used to insulate the original maker of the garments when those items appear in a market considered less-than-optimal for that label: At the time the story was originally reported, the Guardian briefly touched on the myriad retail-related issues surrounding brands and licensing involved in the story: To understand the relationship between discount stores and designer products and their primary markets (high-end places like Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, for instance), it is necessary to examine at how those distribution channels acquire their merchandise and stock their shelves. Retailers in that sector operate primarily by absorbing stock that is past-season, excess, or otherwise not selling well in its intended market: Part of the tradeoff for customers is that the buy whatever is available strategy means that off-price retailers do not try to offer every size and color in every outlet, which limits choice and product availability. But on occasion, designers do intentionally produce excess to supply the off-price market, a practice that is done surreptitiously. Retail blogs surmised that political tensions may have influenced the volume of merchandise landing in stores like Steinmart, but that speculation was formed without any information about whether there was any increase in unsold goods from Trump's line when the story emerged in early 2017. It was equally likely excess products from that line and many others wound up in the hands of bargain hunters in stores like Steinmart in seasons past. Vogue UK confirmed that some Ivanka Trump pieces were relabeled under the Adrienne Vittadini brand before they were distributed in Steinmart stores (those respective brands have different distributors). However, it is well established that excess designer inventory is regularly sold off to off-price retailers, and for a variety of reasons.
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