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Cast Jewelry’s Rachel Skelly on Coming Back Online Only
Skelly shares her plans for reimagining the fine jewelry retailer she re-acquired after it faltered last year.
Cast recently relaunched online with the introduction of a new reversible “Compass” pendant. It’s seen here in the “Voyager” colorway, which is sterling silver and 14-karat gold with malachite, turquoise, and sky-blue topaz on one side and diamonds on the reverse ($3,250 full size, $850 mini).
San Francisco—Less than a year after announcing the closure of its stores and website, California-based jewelry company Cast relaunched its business earlier this year.
Cast, which previously operated three brick-and-mortar stores, is now functioning as an online-only business, owner Rachel Skelly said in an interview with National Jeweler last month.
Its first product drop includes the launch of the reversible “Compass” pendant featuring the brand’s “Flip” design, along with a curated collection of natural diamond and colored gemstone pieces, and new colorways in its “Flip” rings.
Skelly, alongside co-founder and fellow entrepreneur Eric Ryan, launched the business in 2021.
The company originally focused on retail, selling jewelry through its Bay Area stores, as well as collaborating with celebrities like actress Issa Rae on unique collections and partnering with Nordstrom on the in-store activation called “StyleBar.”
Last summer, Skelly posted a video to Instagram announcing that Cast would be closing; operating costs had gotten too high, she told National Jeweler.
She said in the video that she had acquired Cast’s intellectual property, patents, and trademarks and would be relaunching the business.
“It felt like the whole story was cut short, and it was,” she said in the interview.
“There is so much that was working, and I love the product. I love our clients, and there's such a great community. We had been building, and the brand had been resonating, and I, personally, was just not done.”
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Cast, which previously operated three brick-and-mortar stores, is now functioning as an online-only business, owner Rachel Skelly said in an interview with National Jeweler last month.
Its first product drop includes the launch of the reversible “Compass” pendant featuring the brand’s “Flip” design, along with a curated collection of natural diamond and colored gemstone pieces, and new colorways in its “Flip” rings.
Skelly, alongside co-founder and fellow entrepreneur Eric Ryan, launched the business in 2021.
The company originally focused on retail, selling jewelry through its Bay Area stores, as well as collaborating with celebrities like actress Issa Rae on unique collections and partnering with Nordstrom on the in-store activation called “StyleBar.”
Last summer, Skelly posted a video to Instagram announcing that Cast would be closing; operating costs had gotten too high, she told National Jeweler.
She said in the video that she had acquired Cast’s intellectual property, patents, and trademarks and would be relaunching the business.
“It felt like the whole story was cut short, and it was,” she said in the interview.
“There is so much that was working, and I love the product. I love our clients, and there's such a great community. We had been building, and the brand had been resonating, and I, personally, was just not done.”
Skelly is doing a few things differently for “Cast 2.0,” as she calls it.
“I’m fundraising in a very different way. I’m focusing on a smaller raise, looking for people focused on female founders, on consumer brands, and in the fashion luxury space,” she said.
“And I’m also focusing on more angel, early, pre-seed type funding. I'm really trying to raise as little as I need to sustainably get the business up and running,” she said.
The female-founder language is also more at the forefront of Cast’s marketing than it was previously.
“We were primarily female-led, and our crew was mostly women, which I was super proud of, as was [Ryan]. It was a big part of our story, but we also had so many other stories to tell,” Skelly said.
“Now that it’s just me as a founder on my own, and I’m bringing back my team—in bits and pieces, as I can—of all women, I feel really proud of that.”
Before Cast collapsed last year, Skelly served as its chief creative officer, collaborating with designers on pieces exclusive to the brand, and curating limited-time offerings from “guest brands.”
Now, she’s doing more of the ideating herself.
The new “Compass” pendant, available in two colorways, each with a “mini” option, is her own design, inspired by her personal journey in bringing the brand back.
The “Compass” pendant in the colorway “Nomad” is made in 14-karat gold and features black onyx, tiger eye, and citrine on one side, and diamonds on the other ($7,950 full size, $1,250 mini).
“I was thinking about my journey and how I’ve just been so focused on like my North Star and not losing sight of that, even when everything else seems like it’s over … The idea of a compass came to me because it’s such the perfect symbol of centering yourself and trusting your gut,” she said.
Her other considerations for the future include finding a way to bring back customization options and exploring an expansion into wholesale.
“In our stores, you could come in and choose exactly the stones you wanted in your ‘Flip’ rings, so you could make your own colorways, and then we would custom make it for you,” Skelly explained.
“That’s something I want to be able to offer online, but it’s a little more complicated.”
“And,” she continued, “because we don't have physical stores, my plan is to also lean in on trunk shows, especially this year as we ramp up, and I hope to get into some small wholesale accounts by the end of the year. I think trunk shows can be a great way for us to get out there in front new customers.”
Skelly comes from a background in graphic design and previously worked in creative direction roles for wellness brands Plum Organics and Olly.
Ownership is an exciting and challenging new venture.
It was her passion for self-expression that ultimately drove her to fight for the brand.
“When I was in high school, I had rings on every single finger, my thumbs, and my second knuckles. I had rings on my toes. I was that girl with a million piercings,” she said.
“There’s something about that self-expression that has always been innate in me, and I think in all of us. We want to share our story. We want to be understood. There’s something we want the world to understand about us, and I feel like fine jewelry is a really amazing and beautiful way to do that.”
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