Our team would like to extend a sincere thanks to all of our fans and customers. 
 
 It has been an honor to build this incredible community of Women Who Workâat all aspects of their lives. We built a brand, by women for women, committed to inspiring women to redefine success on their own terms, and in pursuit of their individual passions and priorities. 
 
 We are very proud of the content and product we delivered, but most importantly, the amazing partnerships and friendships we cultivated during the life of the brand. 
 
 Thank you for being a part of this journey with us. ||||| FILE - In a Thursday, July 19, 2018 file photo, Ivanka Trump, the daughter of President Donald Trump, applauds during a signing ceremony where President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that establishes... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In a Thursday, July 19, 2018 file photo, Ivanka Trump, the daughter of President Donald Trump, applauds during a signing ceremony where President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that establishes a National Council for the American Worker in the East Room of the White House, in Washington.... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In a Thursday, July 19, 2018 file photo, Ivanka Trump, the daughter of President Donald Trump, applauds during a signing ceremony where President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that establishes a National Council for the American Worker in the East Room of the White House, in Washington.... (Associated Press) FILE - In a Thursday, July 19, 2018 file photo, Ivanka Trump, the daughter of President Donald Trump, applauds during a signing ceremony where President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that establishes... (Associated Press) 
 
 NEW YORK (AP) — Ivanka Trump is shutting down her clothing company and laying off 18 employees after some stores dropped her line and she decided ethics restrictions were holding back its ability to grow. 
 
 The president's daughter said in statement she made the decision to focus more on work as a White House adviser. 
 
 "After 17 months in Washington, I do not know when or if I will ever return to the business, but I do know that my focus for the foreseeable future will be the work I am doing here in Washington," she said, "so making this decision now is the only fair outcome for my team and partners." 
 
 Ivanka Trump has recently been encouraging U.S. companies to pledge to hire American workers. Her company has been criticized for using Chinese workers abroad to make its products. 
 
 Opinions about the brand have become highly polarized and it has faced boycotts from anti-Trump protesters. With sales flagging by some measures, Nordstrom dropped the Ivanka Trump line last year and recently Hudson Bay reportedly did the same. 
 
 The company has also come under criticism from ethics experts for trademarks granted by foreign governments such as China that would want to curry favor with the president. 
 
 Analyst Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, said that "while the company is still viable, doing business has become far more challenging and these problems will only increase." 
 
 The bulk of Ivanka Trump's assets —more than $50 million worth — was contained in a trust that holds her business and corporations. That trust generated over $5 million in revenue last year, according to a financial disclosure report filed with the government. 
 
 When Ivanka Trump joined the White House as adviser to her father, she stepped aside from running her company and agreed to several restrictions so that her financial interest in the business would not conflict with her public role as a White House adviser. 
 
 Still, the company drew criticism for benefiting from their White House ties. 
 
 In April last year, the Chinese government granted her company provisional approval for three new trademarks, the same day she and her husband Jared Kushner dined with the president of China and his wife at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. 
 
 Ivanka Trump's brand has said the 2017 Chinese trademarks were filed defensively to protect against squatters using her name. China has said its trademarks policy regarding Ivanka Trump's company is in line with normal legal practice. 
 
 The Ivanka Trump brand has also come under criticism for conditions at factories where its products were made in China. The Associated Press spoke with workers last year at an Ivanka Trump shoe factory in Ganzhou, China, who described long hours, low pay and abuse. 
 
 The company said at the time that the "integrity" of its supply chain was a "top priority" and that it takes such allegations "very seriously." 
 
 ___ 
 
 AP Business Writer Matt Ott in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report. ||||| Ivanka Trump, President Donald Trump’s daughter, is closing her namesake fashion brand and planning a longer-term focus on policy in Washington. 
 
 Ms. Trump, who formally separated herself from the business more than a year ago, holds an undefined policy portfolio as a senior adviser in the White House, most recently centered on workforce development. Her decision to concentrate on the White House comes after months of speculation about whether she and her husband, fellow White House adviser Jared Kushner, would remain in the...
– The Ivanka Trump collection is shuttering. The First Daughter had already formally separated herself from her namesake fashion line when she started to work as one of President Trump's senior advisers, but has now decided to close IT Collection LLC entirely. "After 17 months in Washington, I do not know when or if I will ever return to the business, but I do know that my focus for the foreseeable future will be the work I am doing here in Washington, so making this decision now is the only fair outcome for my team and partners," Trump said in a statement, per the AP. Both the AP and the Wall Street Journal report that Trump had grown increasingly frustrated by ethics restrictions placed on the company to avoid possible conflicts of interest while she worked in the White House; she reportedly felt the restrictions were hindering the company's ability to grow. While apparel sales at the brand were way up during the 2016 election year, it has since become fraught with controversy and hit with boycotts by those who oppose President Trump. Nordstrom and other retailers have stopped selling it, citing declining sales as the reason, and still other stores have scaled back Ivanka Trump displays. Despite the efforts of Ivanka Trump, who retained her ownership interest in the company through a trust, it was challenging to keep the brand separate from her father's administration; President Trump tweeted, for example, that Nordstrom had treated Ivanka "so unfairly," and Kellyanne Conway came under fire for suggesting people "go buy Ivanka's stuff" during an interview at the White House. And the company had been criticized for using Chinese workers abroad to make its products, as well as for being granted trademarks by foreign governments that would want to be on President Trump's good side.