Catherwood LibraryILR School

Although President Trump and daughter Ivanka Trump have stressed the importance of improving the lives of American workers by bringing jobs back to the U.S. and buying U.S.-made products, Ivanka has stayed silent on the details regarding labor practices of her clothing line. Most notably, she has refused to follow industry trends by hiring independent investigators to monitor labor conditions and protect workers or publishing the names and locations of factories producing her goods. Using customs records and shipping data, the Washington Post was able to trace production of her products to Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, China, and Vietnam. Workers who seek better working conditions often face danger, particularly in China, where three labor activists investigating the labor practices of Ivanka’s clothing line were recently detained. Although Ivanka has built a personal brand on improving the lives of working women as her “life’s mission,” Ethiopian, Indonesian, and Bangladeshi garment employees are predominantly female, and work for some of the lowest wages in the world. Many laborers who claim to have worked on Ivanka-branded garments are paid far below minimum wage, likely illegally.