Hair Brand Emi Jay Sells One Million Clips

The Emi Jay girls have spoken, and claw clips are here to stay. 

Hair care and accessories brand Emi Jay has sold more than one million of its signature hair clips, which have attained cult status with the brand’s devoted customers, including Gigi Hadid, Hailey Bieber and Kendall Jenner.

What some may have seen as a fleeting trend — claw clips started to see an uptick during the COVID-19 pandemic, as consumers wanted a way to feel more put together at home — Emi Jay’s success has proven they are a staple for consumers. 

“It shows the desire and the appetite for what is an everyday staple in such an elevated way. This proves a case that women want to have fun, and that we’re the brand that delivers on so much more than just being a functional part of your day,” said chief marketing officer Claudia Leon.

Founder Julianne Goldmark added: “It’s a testament that the claw clip is here to stay.” 

In addition to surpassing this milestone, the self-funded brand is also on track to reach between $15 million and $25 million in revenue in 2025, having grown 133 percent year-over-year, per industry sources.

While celeb fans helped catapult the brand’s success, Goldmark has maintained the hype around claw clips by tapping into trend forecasting across fashion and color and launching limited-edition collections around major moments like holiday. For example, Goldmark hopped on the butter yellow trend earlier this year, releasing a hair towel in the trendy hue in conjunction with the launch of Emi Jay’s Heavenly Hair Milk at $40. Customers can also customize their own brushes and clips.

“I do feel that our customers get excited each time. It’s not like we’re doing the same thing over and over,” said Goldmark. “It really does feel unique and different each launch.”

While Emi Jay got its start with claw clips, which now come in a variety of colors, designs and sizes, it also has a line of hair care and additional tools like brushes. However, like the claw clips, the hair care line has an Emi Jay twist. For Goldmark, everything is for “the busy girl with places to be.” Therefore, the products mainly revolve around quick and easy styling. 

“The more simple the product, the more success we’ve had,” Goldmark said. 

Styling hits have included the brand’s first product outside of accessories: Angelstick, $38, a hair styling stick, and now the Aura Hair + Body Mist, $24, as fragrance continues to dominate in the beauty category. Emi Jay’s Aura Hair + Body Mist in Toasted Sugar, in particular, has been a hit, as gourmand scents remain hot — the product sold out on Sephora.com within six days, exceeding the brand’s forecast by 302 percent.

“Between the brushes and the clips and the liquids, we’ve seen girls across social media building this little Emi Jay hair wardrobe,” said Goldmark, noting Emi Jay also launches unique accessories to coincide with each hair care launch. “There’s always things to add… Our average cart size is around $75 so the customer is purchasing a liquid and a brush and a clip, or a liquid and a clip, or a liquid and a brush.”

The cross-category approach has proven especially successful at Sephora, its key retail partner.

”A lot of the business that we bring to Sephora is a ton of incrementality,” said Leon. ”We are a traffic driver into Sephora [for accessories.]”

While the clips are easy for consumers to add to their cart when shopping at Sephora, the hair care items have also taken share. Emi Jay’s Angelstick is the brand’s number-one seller at the retailer. According to the team, tools, clips and products are constantly competing for the top spot across channels, showing equal interest across categories. 

That being said, its success in Sephora hasn’t impacted the brand’s direct-to-consumer business, which is informing how the team is thinking about its retail strategy.

”We have not seen cannibalization from Sephora,” said Leon. ”We have die-hard loyalists who want more and more and more. For us, it will be a differentiation strategy between .com and Sephora, so what we bring to Sephora being unique. They’re our exclusive partner for liquids, so [we’re focusing on the] value propositions that we bring to Sephora.”

To maintain the brand’s hype, one of Goldmark’s key strategies revolves around moving at the speed of culture. For example, Goldmark and her team recently noticed that girls on social media were sharing holiday gift guides featuring Emi Jay much earlier than years before, so they hopped on the trend, tapping creator Julia Mervis for a themed shoot. Additionally, Emi Jay has posted its own gift guides on its Instagram stories, including one for stocking stuffers and gifts under $50.

In addition to all of this, Goldmark attributes the brand’s success to the somewhat indescribable world and vibe of Emi Jay girls that she has cultivated. It’s resulted in a groundswell of user-generated content, keeping the brand in the spotlight.

”It has become an amazing hair staple in so many people’s routines across the world, no matter who you are or where you’re going,” Goldmark said.