7 Earring Business Success Stories [2024]
An earring business is one type of jewelry business specializing in manufacturing, wholesaling, and retailing a range of earrings. An earring business could involve designing earrings as jewelry for use in multiple pieces of jewelry or designing them for freelance fashion designers and clothing stores.
Earrings are a fantastic starter project for beginners. Earrings also have some quick success as people love to wear them and often have pierced ears ready to receive your creations.
Earring businesses have been growing in popularity and have the potential to bring in a good income. Running an earring business is creative, challenging, and exciting. Earrings have been on woman's ears for centuries. To put it simply, jewelry is one of the oldest trades around.
In this list, you'll find real-world earring business success stories and very profitable examples of starting a earring business that makes money.
1. Moonglow Jewelry ($6M/year)
Julien Plouffe, the risk-taking entrepreneur behind Moonglow Jewelry, came up with the idea after experiencing success selling the jewelry featuring phases of the moon at a fair in Springfield, MA. Recognizing the potential for growth, he decided to scale the business by working with boutiques and stores, leading to exponential revenue growth from $200,000 to a projected $7,000,000 this year.
How much money it makes: $6M/year
How many people on the team: 11
Moonglow Jewelry experienced tremendous growth to achieve an anticipated revenue of $7 million this year after starting off with $200,000; they credit it mainly to their focus on marketing and reinvesting early profits into improving their brand.
2. Taylor & Hart ($4.62M/year)
Nikolay Piriankov, the founder of Taylor & Hart, had a personal frustration when searching for an ethically sourced engagement ring online. Teamed up with his friend David Sutton, who had experience in the wholesale diamond trade, they decided to create Rare Pink (now Taylor & Hart) in 2013 to offer bespoke and affordable engagement rings. Their first customer, Piers, requested a custom-designed ring, and the impact of this experience led them to focus on custom designs and storytelling in their brand evolution.
How much money it makes: $4.62M/year
How many people on the team: 27
Taylor & Hart CEO Nikolay Piriankov tells the story of the company's journey from a diamond trading business to an award-winning, disruptive e-tailer of custom-designed, ethical engagement rings and fine jewelry, offering a bespoke design service through specifically developed technology online and instore, and growing to £4-6M in annual revenue.
3. Tini Lux ($3.12M/year)
Jackie Burke, founder of Tini Lux, came up with the idea for her business after struggling to find fashionable earrings that wouldn't cause allergic reactions. After discovering a woman selling basic titanium studs, Burke realized there was a market for skin-friendly earrings and decided to design her own line of titanium earrings. Despite initially launching Tini Lux as a side hustle, Burke has seen steady growth in her business and has gained a loyal following of customers who are finally able to wear earrings again.
How much money it makes: $3.12M/year
How many people on the team: 1
Tini Lux is a profitable e-commerce fashion business that provides a line of fashion earrings specifically for women with metal allergies that has gained a loyal following from its target demographic of women aged 18-45 in 15 months since launching.
4. Pearls of Joy ($2.4M/year)
Kevin Canning, founder of Pearls of Joy, came up with the idea for his business by recognizing the high markups in the jewelry industry, particularly with pearls. By sourcing pearls internationally and selling them directly to consumers online, Canning was able to offer high-quality pearls at a fraction of the typical retail price. Through transparency and education, he built trust and authority in the industry, resulting in the rapid growth of his business, with 150% growth year-to-date and projected revenue of $2.5M for 2018.
How much money it makes: $2.4M/year
How many people on the team: 4
Kevin Canning, founder of Pearls of Joy, established the world's fastest-growing pearl jewelry company by sourcing top-grade pearls for 80% below traditional luxury retail, enabling the company to trend at around 150% growth while expecting to close 2018 with $2.5M in revenue.
5. Quirksmith ($479K/year)
Pragya Batra, co-founder of Quirksmith, came up with the idea for her handcrafted jewelry business while attending pop-up markets with her sister and jewelry designer, Divya Batra. They noticed the potential for their unique and quirky designs to resonate with customers, leading them to launch their website on Shopify in 2016. Since then, Quirksmith has grown to process orders worth $40,000 every month, with digital ads on Facebook and Instagram being their primary source of traffic.
How much money it makes: $479K/year
How many people on the team: 5
Quirksmith co-founders built a sustainable and profitable business that gets over 100k visitors on their website every month and generates $40,000 of orders per month, with over 95% of their sales driven through their own website, using digital ads and leveraging social media to make customers their brand ambassadors.
6. Bang-Up Betty ($84K/year)
Stacey, the founder of Bang-Up Betty, initially started making jewelry as a hobby, creating funny and bold pieces with curse words and silly phrases. She quickly learned that staying true to herself and her designs was more important than trying to please everyone. With average monthly revenue of $6,000 and features in sites like Buzzfeed and Huffington Post, Bang-Up Betty has grown into a successful business known for its feminist and progressive tendencies.
How much money it makes: $84K/year
How many people on the team: 1
How Stacey turned her handmade jewelry hobby into a business that generates an average revenue of $6,000 per month, with a focus on staying true to your designs and customers, and the importance of organic marketing through social media and SEO.
7. Gold Pan Pete Design ($30K/year)
Alex Moore, a primary school PE teacher, came up with the idea for his handmade jewelry business after finding gold in New Zealand and wanting to incorporate it into his wedding ring. He took jewelry making classes and started making pieces for family and friends, which led to him selling his designs on Etsy and eventually at a local market. Moore's revenue now averages between $2500-3000 per month, with customers from all over the world.
How much money it makes: $30K/year
How many people on the team: 0
A primary school teacher found his passion for jewelry-making, turning it into a successful business generating $2500-3000 per month through sales at the Creative Queenstown Arts and Crafts Market, online, and through stockists, with plans to expand and eventually make it his full-time profession.
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
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