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'Make America Work Again'? Ivanka Trump's Fashion Line Is Made in China

Trump says he wants to "reclaim millions of American jobs" from overseas—but none of Ivanka's products are made in the US. Sad!
Screenshot via CNN

Despite her father's promise to bring jobs back from overseas, a vast majority of Ivanka Trump's own clothing line, including a much-lauded dress she wore at the Republican National Convention last week, is manufactured in China and Vietnam.

According to the Independent, none of the recently featured items in the Ivanka Trump Collection at Macy's flagship store in New York City were produced in the US. A sales assistant confirmed these findings.

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Read more: 'Everywhere I Look, People Are Eating Hot Dogs': RNC with My Trump Delegate Dad

Last week, Trump took the convention stage to introduce her father Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, in a smart, sleeveless, blush-colored dress. The wardrobe choice caught the attention of Vanity Fair, Hollywood Life, and others, and the next day, the 34-year-old tweeted where the dress could be purchased, for what many would call a reasonable $138.

Just two days earlier, though, the theme for convention speakers was "Make America Work Again"—an extension of Donald Trump's promise to bring back many manufacturing jobs that have been lost to markets overseas. In March, during a debate, he boasted, "I am going to bring jobs back to the United States like nobody else can."

According to the candidate's website, he intends to "[r]eclaim millions of American jobs and [sic] reviving American manufacturing by putting an end to China's illegal export subsidies and lax labor and environmental standards. No more sweatshops or pollution havens stealing jobs from American workers."

The rhetoric appears at odds with the Trump family's own practices. Robert Lawrence, a trade and investment professor at Harvard University, analyzed the origins of items found on Trump.com. Most items under the Donald J. Trump name, Lawrence found, were made in China, Bangladesh, or simply noted as "imported."

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"Of the 838 Ivanka products advertised through the site," he reported, "none appear to be made exclusively in the US; 628 are said to be imported and 354 made specifically in China."

Moreover, China and Vietnam are both countries known for low wages and harsh labor conditions. According to a white paper by Verité, a non-profit organization working to ensure fair and safe labor for people all over the world, excessive overtime in China is a big problem. "A worker at a garment factory in China told the Verité team that he did not have a day off for the whole month because the line was extremely busy, and the section even worked overtime until 3:00 or 4:00 AM," the report stated.

Quinn Kepes, a research program director with Verité, tells Broadly there are two big concerns for workers in China that the country's legal system creates. One is the lack of a legitimate avenue for freedom of association, or the right to organize and collectively bargain. The other issue is forced labor. "China also has systems that perpetuate forced labor among prisoners, some of whom are held for political or religious beliefs," Kepes says. In some cases, those prisoners are forced to work for private enterprises, including garment companies.

According to the International Labor Rights Forum, workers in Vietnam face similar conditions: "Some 30,000 men, women, and children are being held against their will in state-run detention centers, forced to work, and beaten all in the name of 'drug treatment.'"

As of press time, the "imported" dress Ivanka Trump wore at the RNC is sold out on Macys.com. Two shoppers have given it a one-star rating. One wrote, "While it looks pretty and convincing in photos, the dress has no substance and is of low quality (manufacturer issues maybe?)."