Lia Sophia

Jewelry ran in the Kiam family long before Lia Sophia. The company said Victor Kiam and his wife Ellen first built the Friendship Collection, a mom-and-pop import business that started in their apartment. By the 1970s the company described it as the largest US importer of jewelry, antiques and artifacts from China.

In 1986 Victor had the chance to buy Act II Jewelry, a home-party jewelry company. His son Tory was then a second-year student at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Victor asked him to analyze the company for a school project. Tory concluded that direct sales offered real earning potential and flexible hours. The deal went through. Victor renamed the business Lady Remington, after the Remington shaver company he had made famous, and added a Lifetime Replacement Guarantee on all jewelry. Advisors from that era remembered his catchphrase, “Go for it!”

“Early on, my father taught me that to be successful in business - and in life - you have to help others.”

Tory Kiam, president — letter on the lia sophia website (liasophia.com), 2012

Victor Kiam died in 2001, and Tory and Elena Kiam took over. In 2004 they renamed the company lia sophia, after their daughters Lia and Sophia. Tory served as president and later CEO. Elena became creative director and the brand's public face, working with designers on each season's line and appearing in the press. The company was based in Wood Dale, Illinois. A 2008 Chicago Tribune story said it had 27,000 independent sales representatives who sold more than $100 million of jewelry a year. By 2013 its website served shoppers in the US (in English and Spanish), Canada (in English and French) and Germany.

Lia Sophia sold fashion jewelry, not fine jewelry. The company said it took “key trends” and turned them into classic styles meant to last for years. Each spring/summer and fall/winter season brought a new catalog.

• Necklaces: bold statement collars, layered chains and pendants.
• Earrings: crystal studs, drops and chandelier styles.
• Bracelets and rings: bangles, cuffs, wrap bracelets and cocktail rings.
• Kiam Collection: pieces curated by Ellen and Elena Kiam.
• Red Carpet Collection: styles the company said were worn by television, film and Broadway celebrities.
• Limited editions: seasonal pieces sold for a short time only.

Prices sat in the middle of the party-plan market. Archived catalog pages from 2013 show statement necklaces at $128 to $148 and earrings at about $19, and a February 2014 banner promoted “300 styles under $50.” Every piece came with the Lifetime Replacement Guarantee. Jewelry returned within 120 days was replaced free. After that, a $5 handling fee applied per item. Lia Sophia also partnered with Dress for Success, the charity that helps women dress for job interviews. The company said it donated more than $3 million worth of jewelry to the charity each year.

Sellers were called Advisors. They held jewelry parties, which the company called Shows, in hosts' homes. Guests tried on the line and ordered from the catalog. The company put its national Show average at $650.

Starter Kit

In 2012 the Starter Kit cost $149. It held a selection of top-selling styles and the supplies for an Advisor's first five Shows, including catalogs, invitations and a kit bag, and its jewelry changed with the season. By February 2014 there were two options: a $99 Style Kit with $750 in jewelry, and a $149 Style Kit Plus with more than $1,000 in jewelry. Both came with a free 30-day trial of a personal website and a 70% discount on jewelry samples. A program called Excellent Beginnings let new Advisors who started strong earn up to $600 more in free samples.

Pay and hosts

Advisors kept a profit of 30% or more on their sales, paid weekly. At an average $650 Show, that came to $195. Advisors who built a team could be promoted to Leader, and Managers earned on the sales of the groups they oversaw. The company ran an annual Conference and incentive trips, including Cancun in 2010 and Puerto Rico in 2011. In 2014 the Chicago Tribune reported that, according to the company's website, entry-level advisers averaged $7,420 in 2012, and zone leaders averaged $357,872.

Hostesses were well rewarded. A qualifying party needed at least $250 in sales and two buying guests. It earned the hostess 20% of party sales in free jewelry, plus bonus pieces at a set low price and more styles at half price. With 10 orders and two guests booking parties of their own, the hostess could get 40% of party sales in jewelry.

On Monday, December 1, 2014, Lia Sophia announced that it was going out of business after 28 years. Elena Kiam explained the decision in a post on the company's blog. Advisors could keep selling, with jewelry up to 50% off, through December.

“Given the challenging business environment, we made the painful decision to wind down lia sophia in the United States and Canada by December 31, and cease operations by the end of February.”

Elena Kiam, creative director — quoted by JCK, December 4, 2014

The company gave no reason beyond the “challenging business environment.” The party business ended on December 31, 2014. The brand lived on online for a while. By May 2016 the website was branded “Outlet by lia sophia” and sold discounted jewelry, but by May 20, 2017 it read: “Thanks for your patronage, the Outlet by lia sophia is now closed.”

The closure led to a class action, West v. Act II Jewelry, in federal court in Chicago. According to Top Class Actions, it alleged that the company stopped honoring its Lifetime Replacement Guarantee after shutting down direct sales, and that it kept signing up new Advisors who bought starter kits in the months before the announcement. The case ended in a $6.7 million settlement covering customers, Advisors and new Advisors who bought a kit between August and December 2014. The court gave final approval on June 7, 2018.

Today the brand is gone. The liasophia.com address showed an advertising placeholder page in 2025 and returned only an error page in October 2026. Former Advisors kept whatever jewelry they had, and second-hand Lia Sophia pieces are common on resale sites. People who miss jewelry parties can look at live companies on Direct Sales Aid, such as Paparazzi.