Cast Jewelry Founder Rachel Skelly Relaunches Brand as Online-Only Retailer

Rachel Skelly has never believed Cast was finished. After purchasing the San Francisco brand's intellectual property when it closed in mid-2025, the original cofounder and now CEO has relaunched Cast as an online-only business, reintroducing the line with a product drop anchored by a reversible Compass pendant collection.

"I just feel like Cast is not done and I'm not done with Cast," Skelly said.

Skelly announced the return on Instagram on January 1, 2026, with a new website and subscriber email following shortly after. She is calling the revival "Cast 2.0," and the relaunched site frames the moment as "the recasting of Cast." A skeleton crew of former employees has rejoined the business, with Skelly hoping to hire back more staff as 2026 progresses.

The Compass collection sits at the center of the relaunch and reflects what Skelly describes as the brand's core design philosophy: pieces that can transform from one look to another, built with different gemstones and materials to suit varying client preferences. Longtime Cast followers will also recognize the double-sided Flip ring among the original jewelry carried on the site, suggesting Skelly is threading continuity through the new chapter rather than abandoning what the brand built before.

The online-only format is deliberate for now. Skelly is scheduling trunk shows to reconnect with retailers and customers directly, and she has expressed interest in forming strategic wholesale partnerships as the brand rebuilds its footing. Physical retail, which Cast operated before its closure, remains a longer-term aspiration rather than an immediate plan.

"Owning Cast stores is something we need to earn the right to do again," Skelly said. "I loved our retail stores so much. I loved being with our clients, looking at the jewelry and trying things on. That part was so amazing to me. I want that again."

The sequencing is deliberate: online sales and trunk shows first, wholesale partnerships next, and earned retail presence after that. For a brand that rose quickly and closed abruptly, the measured pace of Cast 2.0 reads less like caution and more like a founder who learned exactly what she wants to rebuild, and in what order.