• Claire’s relaunches its ear-piercing experience with a new color, redesigned stores, and refreshed packaging after emerging from its second bankruptcy under new owner Ames Watson.
• The rebrand, shaped by Gen Alpha feedback, pairs a softer identity with enhanced safety protocols and a new tagline, “I Got Pierced at Claire’s.”

They say the mall is dying, but Claire’s is pumping life back into the piercing chair that has hosted more than 131 million ears since the 1970s. Regardless, it’s fascinating that even that loyalty almost didn’t survive. 

Claire’s filed for bankruptcy twice in seven years, most recently in August 2025, as the chain was buried under nearly $500 million in debt. Weeks later, investment firm Ames Watson swooped in with a $140 million deal to buy the business out of bankruptcy, betting that a brand this embedded in growing up still had a comeback to mount. Now, under that new ownership, Claire’s is giving mall ear piercings a full, probably much-needed, identity refresh.