This article may include affiliate links. We may earn a small commission if you shop through them.
If you grew up going to the mall in the 90s or early 2000s, there’s a good chance Claire’s was basically a rite of passage. It’s where you got your ears pierced (unless you’re Latina like us, in which case you had your ears pierced from your newborn era!), where you spent your allowance on butterfly clips and mood rings, and where you probably owned at least one item of jewelry…that turned your finger green within 48 hours.
Now Claire’s is getting a full overhaul, and it’s leaning hard into the nostalgia that us millennial moms have for the brand to win over our Gen Alpha daughters.
How do we feel about this?
What’s Actually Changing
Claire’s just announced a major relaunch across its roughly 900 stores in the U.S. and Canada, rolling out through the fall. The changes include upgraded piercing training and safety standards, new FDA-registered piercing equipment, a redesigned in-store experience with selfie-ready piercing stations, and a refreshed pastel color palette anchored by a new signature purple shade the brand is calling “Lilith.” There’s also a new tagline: “I Got Pierced at Claire’s.”
The brand is positioning itself less as a jewelry store and more as an experience — think an “Inspiration Bar” for building out your ear stack, piercing certificates, and aftercare guides that feel more ceremonial than transactional. It’s giving very “milestone moment,” and honestly, we’re a little nostalgic just reading about it.
You’ll find selfie stations, piercing “certificates” and more.
The Strategy: Sell to the Kid, Market to the Mom
Here’s the interesting part. Claire’s target customer is officially a 10-year-old — Gen Alpha — but the company is very aware that us moms are the ones with the wallet and the nostalgia. It’s a savvy move: get millennial moms misty-eyed about their own Claire’s memories, and they’ll happily hand their daughters the same rite of passage they had.
It’s the same playbook Victoria’s Secret used to pull itself out of a slump, leaning back into brand authority (bras, in their case; piercings, in Claire’s case) instead of chasing every trend. Claire’s is doing something similar, doubling down on the one thing it’s always been known for.
Why This Hits Different for Millennials
Let’s be honest: nothing says “core 90s/2000s girlhood” quite like getting your ears pierced at Claire’s, picking out a butterfly hair clip you didn’t need, and leaving with a bag of jewelry that cost less than your allowance. It was low stakes, it was fun, and it felt like a genuine milestone even though, in retrospect, the earrings turned your ears green by week two.
The Verdict
Whether or not this brings Claire’s fully back to its former glory remains to be seen, but the strategy makes sense: sell the milestone and target us moms full of millennial and Gen X nostalgia. If it means an entire new generation gets their ears pierced at Claire’s the same way we did, complete with a slightly terrifying piercing gun and a free pair of starter studs, then honestly? Some traditions are worth keeping.