The current generations have been changing the market lately in matters of luxury and personal adornment, giving long-established companies the oft-dreaded "adapt or die" scenario. One of the major things that have experienced an enormous rise in popularity includes piercings. However, millennials and Gen Z are often not content with a single earring or pierced ear. Places, where younger customers can get their fix, are direct-to-consumer jewelry brands like Mejuri and Stone and Strand.
These places have been steadily increasing piercing services in their pop-up retail locations. A subscription box service called Rowan has also been shipping monthly supplies of earrings and safe piercings to tweens across the country. Joining the newer generation of jewelers is Studs, a business that runs exclusively for young shoppers looking for piercings.
Anna Harman and Lisa Bubbers are the founders of Studs. They revealed their mission was to provide a place for younger millennial and Gen Z shoppers that have an affinity for piercings. The business has $3million in backing from First Round Capital, with its foundational retail concept shop set up on New York City's Prince Street.
According to a statement from Harman to Glossy, “Obviously this is not an experience that is going to be digitized in the future. You are never digitally getting your ears pierced and because we have that one-on-one time with you, we should be using that time to get to know you.”
A single or double piercing at Studs can run for $35 and $50 respectively. The jewelry itself ranges in price from $30 to $180, which are modest and affordable prices for young shoppers. From the company's new e-commerce site, fashion jewelry costs $14 to $175.
Stone and Strand is another DTC brand that moved into piercings, with CEO Nadine McCarthy Kahane fully behind the decision. “As a jewelry company we make really high-quality jewelry, but when we looked around and wanted to get piercings for ourselves, we found that the earrings that were available weren’t that cute. People would get their ears pierced and then swap them out with something from Stone and Strand,” said McCarthy Kahane.
Information originally sourced from Glossy.
