Trinkets and trumpery
The Ivanka Trump label repositions at home and soars in Asia
This week the fashion and jewellery label opens its first standalone store
Dec 13th 2017 | NEWYORK
LAUREN, a Democrat from Maryland, makes an impassioned case for not shopping at Ivanka Trump, the business founded by Donald Trump’s daughter. First comes a predictable argument; she abhors supporting any brand that uses the Trump name. Second, the sparkly sandals she bought back when Ms Trump was a tabloid celebrity, not an adviser to the president, fell apart within a year. Shoppers will soon be able to take such complaints directly to sales staff: the brand is about to open its first standalone store, in Trump Tower in New York.
(impassioned: showing or feeling very strong emotions
abhor: to dislike someone or something very much
tabloid: a newspaper that has pages about half the size of an ordinary newspaper and that typically contains many photographs and stories about famous people and other less serious news items
觉得这个民主党的就是妒忌川普女儿又美又有钱，老爸还是总统！)
Floral frocks, stilettos and bangles aimed at the mid-market customer do not often inspire strong reactions, but Ms Trump’s fashion line is divisive. Though Ms Trump distanced herself from her company in January, she owns it and receives money through a trust. Some consumers are boycotting it. Others have purged their wardrobes of items they already own. Thredup, a second-hand fashion site, says users listed double the number of Ivanka items for sale in the first five months of 2017 than in the same period last year. But lots of Trump fans have also spent to express their support.
( stiletto: a woman's shoe with a very high, thin heel
bangle: a large stiff ring that is worn as jewelry around the arm, wrist, or ankle
divisive: causing a lot of disagreement between people and causing them to separate into different groups
purge: to remove people from an area, country, organization often in a violent and sudden way
川普女儿伊万卡因为要避嫌，已经尽量和公司少牵扯，怕被人误会为公司站台，为什么很多人可以身兼数职，但人家政客就不行呢？)
Ms Trump started her firm in 2007 as a diamond-jewellery boutique selling $50,000 products. But competing with established designers proved difficult. The company rebranded,capitalising on the popularity of a book, “Lean In”, by Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, with a new campaign:#WomenWhoWork.
Using feminism to sell $100 office frocks worked well. In 2015 the company’s clothing line alone reportedly generated $100m. Abigail Klem, who became chief executive in January, said that in 2016 sales rose by 21%. Ms Trump’s visibility during the campaign helped.
（ 伊万卡是在2007年成立珠宝首饰公司，但和大企业大设计师相比，很难杀出血路。 最近他们重新定位公司，打出女强人标签终于杀出了血路）
But in February Nordstrom, a department store, dropped the fashion line and Neiman Marcus, another upmarket retailer, stopped selling the jewellery. Both cited declining sales. The brand has edged downmarket. Its biggest retailers are Lord &Taylor, Zappos, Macy’s and Walmart. According to Edited, an analytics firm, 84% of Ivanka Trump footwear is discounted, by an average of 55%.
Ms Klem has said the company now wants to build an identity separate from Ms Trump. The new store’s location will not help.Asian consumers, moreover, appreciate the bond betweenMsTrump and her brand.Its profile has risen sharply in line with hers. A popular Japanese shopping site, Waja, started selling dresses from the Ivanka Trump fashion label in 2012. It sold nearly 30 times as many Ivanka products in November 2016 as it did in the same month of the previous year. The label now outranks Kate Spade and Calvin Klein on the website.
（在美国，部分商场已经下架伊万卡公司的产品，原因是销售下降了。公司也想出新品，和伊万卡没啥共同点的新品。但是亚洲顾客还是很喜欢伊万卡和品牌之前的纽带）
In China the line is so coveted that fake Ivanka merchandise has flooded the market, and the brand has registered at least 16 trademarks there. Three of them were granted on the same day Ms Trump joined her father and Xi Jinping, China’s president, for a steak dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Abroad, if not at home, Ms Trump’s style may turn into a wardrobe staple.
（中国顾客很追从伊万卡系列产品，导致市场上山寨品超级多）
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Results
Lexile®Measure: 1000L - 1100L
Mean Sentence Length: 13.40
Mean Log Word Frequency: 2.96
Word Count: 469
这篇文章的蓝思值是在1000-1100L， 适合英语专业大一的水平学习，应该是经济学人里属于最简单的了
使用kindle断断续续地读《经济学人》三年，发现从一开始磕磕碰碰到现在比较顺畅地读完，进步很大，推荐购买！点击这里可以去亚马逊官网购买~
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