Trump slump Are US fashion brands at risk from anti-American sentiment?

An effortlessly cool Nick Kamen strolls into a launderette, strips to his boxer shorts and washes his jeans in front of a stunned clientele, to the sound of Marvin Gaye's I Heard It Through the Grapevine.

- Lauren Cochrane

The 1985 Levi's 501 advert made a star of its model and presented an image in keeping with the brand's all-American style.

But could that deep-seated association with the US prove an Achilles heel? Last week, in its UK accounts, Levi's issued a warning that "rising anti-Americanism as a consequence of the Trump tariffs and governmental policies" could affect its sales in Britain.

The idea is not unique - attitudes towards Tesla in the UK and Europe deteriorated when Elon Musk was closely associated with Donald Trump. However, the Levi's warning raises the question: could fashion become the latest sector affected by anti-American sentiment outside the US?

Experts are divided. Achim Berg, the founder of the Germany-based thinktank FashionSights, was "surprised" by the Levi's warning - he sees the brand as a different case from companies such as Tesla or Amazon, which are "directly associated with the US [government]".

"I haven't seen any reports about people holding back on Apple; holding back on Netflix," Berg said. "If you think about it, we are all using plenty of US products and services every day."

However, Catherine Shuttleworth, a retail consultant and the chief executive of Savvy Marketing, thinks there is a risk. "People are thinking twice about going on holiday to America and about buying some of those products," she said. "If I was a retailer of an all-American product, I would be thinking about how I presented myself differently in terms of my advertising and marketing."

Any sign of an anti-American trend would cause a headache for an industry benefiting from the popularity of Americana and preppy looks. Labels such as Hollister, Ralph Lauren and Brandy Melville are popular - the last opened a store in London in June.