diff --git a/pkg/cli/environment.go b/pkg/cli/environment.go
index 721b840ab..ba103252d 100644
--- a/pkg/cli/environment.go
+++ b/pkg/cli/environment.go
@@ -244,6 +244,9 @@ func (s *EnvSettings) Namespace() string {
 	if ns, _, err := s.config.ToRawKubeConfigLoader().Namespace(); err == nil {
 		return ns
 	}
+	if s.namespace != "" {
+		return s.namespace
+	}
 	return "default"
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/cli/environment_test.go b/pkg/cli/environment_test.go
index 1692a89d5..f7709045c 100644
--- a/pkg/cli/environment_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cli/environment_test.go
@@ -111,6 +111,14 @@ func TestEnvSettings(t *testing.T) {
 			kubeTLSServer: "example.org",
 			kubeInsecure:  true,
 		},
+		{
+			name:       "invalid kubeconfig",
+			ns:         "testns",
+			args:       "--namespace=testns --kubeconfig=/path/to/fake/file",
+			maxhistory: defaultMaxHistory,
+			burstLimit: defaultBurstLimit,
+			qps:        defaultQPS,
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range tests {