Eco, Ethical & Fair Trade Gems: The Tuscon Meeting
In February at the Tuscon Gem Show, a meeting of producers and manufactures took place.
It was organized by Bill Gallagher, CEO, of Lori Bonn Design, Inc and co-facilitator: Meghan Connolly Haupt, C5 & SuLusso. The meeting was well attended, drawing a broad spectrum of jewelers, buyers from large supply houses, educators and gemstone producers. Below are some of the outcomes and issues from the discussions.
Below is some of the information that came out of this meeting, starting with a survey among the participants. I actually made some good contacts that were useful. Special thanks to Bill and Meghan for putting on the meeting and letting me publish these notes.
~ Marc Choyt, Publisher
What issues or challenges are you facing now with eco, ethical, or fair trade gems?
Issues & Challenges – Survey
Supplier Issues:
• No agreement on standards
• No ind. certification credibility of sources
• Lack of stone choice
• Lack of interest from consumers
• Small orders – expensive to fulfill
Buyer Issues:
• Limited choice of vendors
• Limited choice of gemstones
• Limited information on supply chain
• No independent certification
• No agreement on standards
• Where to start
• Cost
Session Notes: Challenges Related to Gemstone Sourcing:
• Getting fair price for pearls that support local farmers
• Not enough gem suppliers
• Range of options
• Import regulations, duties, taxes
• Affordability for mass market
• Buyers not appreciating the efforts for designers to offer ethically sourced
• Not enough consumer demand
• How to educate appropriately
• Funding for certification, setting up fair trade cooperatives (relying on big business)
• Splintering of conversation (many different efforts taking place)
• Difficult for consumer to understand issues
• Partnering for change as opposed to helping for change
• Governments that support big business over artisanal miners
• Getting consumers to drive movement
• Substantive story, what does it mean
• Prolific misinformation getting to consumers
What do you need or want for your eco, ethical or fair trade business?
From the survey:
Session Notes: Needs/Wants
• Streamlined communication by those in the movement to address misinformation
• What is the premium that is acceptable to buyers?
• How protect from fraud?
• How not to shoot ourselves in the foot by making our industry extinct?
• Focus on positive story
• Keep surfacing issues in constructive way to find solutions
• Awareness of contradictions and politics
• Movie like Food, Inc. for jewelry industry
• People recognizing impact of their personal decisions
• Coordinated and strong body, voice, entity
• “Truth will move the market.”
What resources or ideas would you like to share for eco, ethical or fair trade?
Ideas & Resources – ideas generated by the survey.
• Intro sessions on how to get started for jewelers, designers, gem suppliers and others on how to get started: First Steps on the Road to Fair Trade Jewelry
• Another Madison Dialogue summit
• A session to define terms
• A credible entity/leader to balance/negotiate the various points of view on approach and standards
• A positive PR campaign to make it sexy like “Got Milk?”
• Sessions at JCK, JA, Bangkok, Etc.
• A directory to find suppliers and customers for gems
• Carbon Offset credits to fund certification
