Claire’s (private), a company that sells makeup, jewelry, and accessories to pre-teen and teen girls, has had to pull several of its makeup products off the shelves after discovering they may contain traces of asbestos.
Claire’s, which is owned by Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO), first made the announcement on Saturday via Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) (making for a not-so-jolly Christmas for the company and customers alike). A statement was later made, saying, “We have taken the precautionary measure of pulling the items in question from sale… Once we have more information and have the results of the investigation we will take the necessary action. If you have items you wish to return in the interim period we will issue a refund.”
Those particular items in question include the bedazzled rainbow heart makeup set and the metallic hot pink glitter makeup.
For those of you that don’t know, exposure to asbestos can be extremely dangerous; it has been found to lead to certain types of cancers and tumors on internal organs. Needless to say, I would avoid anything that has even the remote chance of being contaminated with asbestos: I’d avoid it like, well, like asbestos.
This news is a devastating blow to Claire’s, at a time when the company is already struggling, as many others are as well in the retail sector. Claire’s has been loaded with debt for a while now and has several times come close to shutting its doors for good. Will the company be able to recover from this, its most recent blight? Keep in mind that investigations are still ongoing; the asbestos hasn’t been confirmed yet, only suspected. Still, though, that’s a pretty big hurdle to have to overcome. Claire’s might be able to sweep this all under the rug in a few months, but for the time being, I would say shoppers beware.
Featured Image: twitter
