Nordstrom's decision last week to drop Ivanka Trump's fashion line garnered mixed reactions from consumers, leaving many wondering if the company's decision was politically motivated. The retailer claimed that the decision was based purely on sales figures -- a claim that has been disputed by industry insiders -- and now that an anti-Trump internal memo has been leaked to the press, it is becoming evident that there's more to this decision than just dollars and cents.

Memo sent on same day Ivanka was dropped

Seattle PI reported on the leaked memo on Feb.

3 -- the same day Nordstrom announced that it would drop Ivanka Trump's fashion line -- which addresses President Trump's executive order on immigration. The memo states, in part: "We know there are questions for some around how the executive order affects them specifically. We are in the process of determining which employees may be affected," and goes on to encourage affected employees to contact the company's human resources department. The memo was issued by Pete, Blake and Erik Nordstrom.

One industry insider scoffed at the claims that the line was under-performing and suggested that the luxury retailer may have intentionally torpedoed Ivanka's brand, according to Breitbart News. "Insiders know how stores can easily play games with placement of merchandise and other ways to lower numbers," the unidentified insider told Breitbart.

The evidence appears to support this claim; in October of 2016, the business website Fast Company reported that the Ivanka Trump Collection dress she wore to the RNC quickly sold out, while net sales were up $11.8 million during the first half of 2016 against the previous year. Meanwhile, Forbes reported that 2016 sales from Ivanka's brand had risen $29.4 million above sales figures from the previous year.

President Trump took to Twitter to bash the retailer for cutting his daughter's fashion line on Wednesday morning, claiming that Ivanka had been treated unfairly. Investors seem to agree; CNBC reported that Nordstrom shares dropped precipitously after the president's tweet. "With Wednesday's drop, Nordstrom's shares are down more than 10 percent to date," wrote CNBC's Berkeley Lovelace.

Nordstrom veep celebrates with pro-Hillary tweet

So, who's telling the truth about the real reason why Ivanka's line was dropped?

On February 3 one Nordstrom executive, Olivia Kim, who lists her title as VP of Creative Projects, celebrated the company's decision with a tweet channeling Hillary Clinton's campaign, declaring: #yeswecan #yeswedid.
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