Go Back to www.IndependentRetailer.com PRODUCT TRENDS The Rise of Jewelry Accessories


THE JEWELRY accessory catego- ry is one for which the demand has been growing. For independent retailers, it’s an easy, add-on busi- ness, and stores love it. Suppliers like E’arrs Inc. even offer a spin- ner display unit that makes the products hard to resist, impulse buys. It’s also a non-seasonal fashion category, which sells just as well all year round, and is not color related. Unlike other fashion items, the line doesn’t have to be changed periodically throughout the year. Back in the late ‘70s, Mike Bow


of E’arrs Inc. patented a small, low density polyethylene sleeve, that


goes over the post of an earring to protect the skin from the metal. At that time, the vast majority of earring posts had a lot of nickel in them, and roughly 30 to 40 percent of people exposed to nickel have some type of contact dermatitis re- action to it. Needless to say, Bow had great success with the item, and subsequently branched out into many other products, includ- ing polyethylene earring backs, ring sizers and liquid plastic to coat jewelry. “We’ve got between 45 and


50 items now,” says Bow. “Our line of items consists of what we call jewelry accessories, rather


than jewelry. While we do im- port some sterling silver earrings, our main business is in the jew- elry accessory category.” It’s a small niche, but a


lucrative one. The items are in- expensive, so it requires a high volume of sales to turn a healthy profi t. But Bow explains that the nature of the products and their placement make that less diffi - cult than it sounds. There aren’t too many suppliers out there sell- ing these accessories, but the number is defi nitely growing. E’arrs Inc. alone supplies many of the major chains, including


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54 August 2010


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