Fair and square: How you can bring ethical jewellery to your counter

by charlene_voisin | June 1, 2012 9:00 am

By Marc Choyt

A young couple walks through the glass doors of your store. You know why they have come; the light in their faces, how their bodies casually lean into each other as they look into the cases—it’s obvious.

“We’re looking for an engagement ring,” he says. Already, she is pointing to a white gold designer ring with a floral pattern and a one-carat diamond.

You take out the ring. As she looks at it, you can feel the couple exuding happiness and for a moment, you forget the rising cost of gold and the usual day-to-day issues with which jewellery retailers cope. Instead, you recall feeling how life is full of possibilities. You’re in a business that at its best is based on our common humanity and the mysterious connections between us all.

As the woman picks up the ring, the man expresses their hesitation. “What about the issue of blood diamonds,” he asks.

They have also seen the specials on television about dirty and conflict gold. You tell the new story. They can choose Canadian diamonds or diamonds mined and cut in Namibia that provide needed jobs.

“If you prefer a coloured gem, we have this fairtrade sapphire from Malawi,” you tell them. “The miners are paid a fair wage, and funds are set aside to support schools and clinics. As for the gold, I can trace it straight back to a small-scale mining community in Peru, where it is third-party certified to be responsible.”

She smiles. She had no idea jewellery could be made this way. Still, the three-ring set costs a bit more than they have budgeted.

“Shouldn’t the sourcing of the ring express the very values you hold dear in your relationship—a life-giving, hopeful future for yourselves, your children, and grandchildren? This ring is an expression of the beautiful world that’s possible now,” you say.

This is not some future state. I experience this type of conversation in my own store all the time.

Ethically sourced jewellery can be a huge opportunity for any jeweller. In my experience, these issues are important to people of all ages, but most particularly younger consumers, which, after all, is your future customer base.

How we got here

We know much of the material from which we make our product is a commodity, but our customers do not see jewellery the same way as say, lumber or oil. Its value is emotional, or as Martin Rapaport wrote in an article several years ago, jewellery possesses “spiritual sparkle.”

I have been concerned about where the materials I use come from since I started my company 16 years ago. I attended Rapaport’s first fairtrade jewellery meeting in 2006 and the seminal, cross-sector ethical jewellery Madison Dialogue gathering at the World Bank in Washington D.C. the following year. I’ve led working groups, published numerous articles on ethical manufacturing, and run Fair Jewelry Action USA, a network of jewellers, manufacturers, and mining groups interested in ethical sourcing. Over the years, however, I’ve noticed the supply chain has changed little in most respects.

Nearly all the 100 million small-scale miners around the world supplying 15 to 30 per cent of newly mined gold and up to 80 per cent of all coloured gemstones live in abject poverty. People are still buying diamonds for engagement rings sourced from countries where human rights atrocities are common. Now, unfortunately, some of these diamonds, sourced from Zimbabwe, for example, are certified ‘conflict-free.’

Undeniably, media coverage over the past five years on all things ‘conflict,’ ‘blood,’ and ‘dirty’ in the jewellery industry has created a rising tide of consumer awareness. To counter this negative exposure or ‘attack on our business,’ many jewellers continue to follow their tried and true solution, which still works well: marketing based upon cost, value, romance, and seduction.

Yet many in the trade are increasingly concerned about the business and moral implications of sourcing. Large companies facing extremely complex international supply chains—many of which they have little control over—are perplexed as to how to trace materials from mine to market. As a jeweller and manufacturer myself, I know it is not easy—my company has more than 3000 pieces of inventory.

Where to go

The good news is that, unlike five years ago, we now have some very good options. Coloured gems sourced according to fairtrade principles and standards are now available, while consumers are drawn to Canadian diamonds for their conflict-free status. It is even possible to get melee traceable to Australian and Canadian sources. Products made of 100 per cent recycled materials are easily obtainable, including ‘renewed’ (i.e. recycled) diamonds.

I know from my own experience that using recycled metals has enhanced my brand; I find consumers appreciate a jeweller who takes a proactive stance toward the environment and human rights issue associated with sourcing. Best of all, jewellery created with materials from transparent and traceable supply chains are not necessarily more expensive, since competition is still a concern and companies have adjusted their operations as much as possible to survive in the mainstream market.

The introduction of fairtrade gold in February 2011 caused significant media attention. Since then, 52 jewellers around the world (including two in Canada) have been licensed to sell this metal, which is mined by small-scale mining co-operatives in countries like Peru, and third-party audited to be fair and environmentally responsible. According to Greg Valerio, the jeweller activist who pioneered fairtrade gold, manufacturers purchased approximately £700,000 ($1.1 million Cdn) of fairtrade gold in its first year, putting about 10 per cent of that back into the communities that mined it in the form of schools and health clinics.

“Ten years ago no one in the U.K. and Ireland gave any notice to ethical issues in jewellery. Now it is the dominant discussion,” said Valerio, founder of Cred Jewellery in the U.K and co-founder of Fair Jewelry Action. “We have discovered a pound of truth is worth a million pounds of PR.”

Given the smaller supply of fairtrade and fairmined gold, it is easy to understand why this material is deemed the “most precious gold in the world.”Â  In the U.K. where the movement is quite strong, a wave of positive publicity around fairtrade and fairmined gold has created a lot of momentum, even though it is about 10 to 15 per cent more expensive than ordinary gold. In North America, its profile is far lower. While many people understand fairtrade coffee or chocolate, gold is entirely different.  

The challenge for those who sell it, including myself, is to educate the customer.  The Fairtrade Labeling Organization (FLO), with which I am personally involved, is working to develop a plan to broadly introduce fairtrade and fairmined gold to the North American market later this year. 

Action plan

Taking advantage of this emerging trend for ethical jewellery requires careful planning and allocation of resources. Though ethical sourcing is still a small niche market in North America, differentiating yourself from your competition can provide significant advantage. As ‘conflict’ issues become more prominent, customers will likely seek out jewellers that understand the connection between sourcing and symbolism.

A bridal collection is perhaps the best opportunity in which to introduce a traceable and transparent jewellery line. Wedding and engagement rings possess tremendous symbolism. Nearly all bridal clients can appreciate ethically sourced rings to represent their love and commitment.

For the majority of companies, it makes the most sense to start with a small collection and test your clientele. I have found ethical sourcing is rarely in itself enough of an issue to make someone buy a wedding ring set—the product must also be priced competitively and the designs must be beautiful and stand on their own.

While a few customers might come into your store just to see what you have because of your stance on sourcing, most will view ethical jewellery as an added value, which in the end, might be a tipping point in a sale. All things being equal, it’s been my experience that bridal clients tend to lean toward wedding rings with a back story of a better world attached to them.

A few years ago, many ethical sourcing pioneers had concerns that bringing in traceable product to market raised the risk of clients questioning the origin of all jewellery, leaving a retailer in an awkward position. That is not the case. Just like a supermarket selling organics, you are simply giving the customer a choice that improves the image of your entire company.

Before bringing in a line of ethically sourced jewellery, consider training your staff. Find the salesperson that cares most about these issues and allow him or her to become the expert and train others. It’s critical those who service the customer are both passionate and accurate about ethically sourced jewellery. Once you bring in the line, consider issuing a press release to test your market. Even when all the products in your store are not traceable, your ethical stance can cast a halo over the lines you carry, and may even garner local press looking for a positive story. This last point happened to me this past February when my company was featured in a Valentine’s Day story that ended up on the front page of our newspaper.

Although the exposure got the word out about our store, it was the combination of great design, value, and ethical sourcing that clients found attractive. The first two are a given for producing jewellery that sells. The third allows the customer to feel good knowing their purchase aligns their personal values with economic choices that can support a more beautiful and sustainable future. And you and your company may be contributing to global initiatives to help our industry be as clean as it can be.

Ethical sourcing resources

• Fair Jewelry Action www.fairjewelry.org[1]
• Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) www.responsiblejewellery.com[2]
• Artisanal Gold Council (AGC) www.artisanalgold.org[3]
• Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) www.communitymining.org[4]
• Diamond Development Initiative (DDI) www.ddiglobal.org[5]
• Ethical Metalsmiths www.ethicalmetalsmiths.org[6]
• The Fairtrade Foundation www.fairtrade.org.uk[7]
• Fairtrade Canada www.fairtrade.ca[8]

  Marc Choyt is director of Fair Jewelry Action, an environmental justice and human rights network within the jewellery sector. He is president of Reflective Images, a designer jewellery company and manufacturer located in Santa Fe, N.M. Choyt’s book on sustainable business practices, “The Circle Manifesto,” will be published later this year. He can be reached at reflective@cybermesa.com[9].

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