Following streams of criticisms about potential conflicts of interest and a handful of protests, Ivanka Trump is shuttering her fashion brand.

Roughly one year ago, the president's daughter stopped working directly with the company to serve as a senior advisor at the White House.

The brand's 18 employees were informed Tuesday that the business would be ending for good. Ivanka said she was hoping to avoid any potential conflicts of interest in the future and focus on her role in Washington. She said she doesn't know if she will ever go back to working in fashion.

"When we first started this brand, no one could have predicted the success that we would achieve," Ivanka said in an emailed statement to CNBC. "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."

The Ivanka Trump brand — which sells clothing and accessories including handbags, perfume and high heels — saw strong sales growth after its inception in 2014, current President Abigail Klem said. It had recently rolled out an e-commerce platform to capture shoppers moving online.

But with President Donald Trump in the White House, critics of her father's politics have put Ivanka's brand at the center of boycotts and other protests. The brand was notably pulled from Nordstrom and Hudson's Bay in recent months, with those department store chains citing poor sales performance.

More recently, Chinese trademarks issued to Ivanka's brand raised questions over whether the first daughter was receiving special treatment from a foreign government. The Chinese government had awarded her fashion line seven new trademarks in May, online records said.

Even while she was in the White House, Ivanka continued to receive profits from her brand despite stepping down from her leadership role within the organization, according to CREW, a nonpartisan watchdog group that's been critical of the Trump administration in the past. She was also still able to view certain financial information.

The Ivanka Trump brand has licensing agreements with partners globally, including G-III Apparel Group, the clothing company behind names such as GUESS, DKNY, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Levi's. G-III said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that net sales of Ivanka Trump-licensed apparel climbed more than 60 percent, to $47.3 million, in 2017 from the year before.

Those licensing agreements aren't going to be renewed but will "run their course" until they expire, a spokesperson for the Ivanka Trump brand told CNBC. That means items can still be purchased from retailers such as Dillard's, Bloomingdale's, Zappos and Amazon — until they're out of stock.

"I know that this was a very difficult decision for Ivanka," Klem said about the news.

The Wall Street Journal first reported about the brand's closure Tuesday afternoon.

— CNBC's Tucker Higgins and Courtney Reagan contributed to this reporting.