What Is Your Vision For Ethical Jewelry?
Leaders in the forefront of manifesting true Ethical Jewelry, speak their minds about how and where the Jewelry Industry needs to go for truly ethically sourced jewelry.
“To make it culturally unacceptable to buy a piece of jewelry that is not independently certified as being socially and environmentally responsible. A strong second is to educate young designers about the relationship between design and ethics, thereby seeding social and environmental transformation throughout the supply chain.”
—Greg Valerio, Cred Jewellers, retailer, manufacturer and vice-chairman of the Association for Responsible Mining
“Ethical jewelry starts with ethical mining and benefication. The more benefit that accrues to people sourcing the stones, the better they and their communities are treated, the further down the road we go to a truly ethical final product.”
—Alex Twersky, Finesse Diamonds, diamond manufacturer
“I think ethical jewelry is having the metals and gemstone chain of custody be transparent from miners to the retail jeweler where everyone has an equal opportunity and is fairly paid for their participation. The quality of the air, land and waters are preserved in the process and the final jewelry owner can know their purchase has contributed to the quality of life on the planet. Ethical jewelry will rapidly become a reality when each of us demands to know the fairness and sustainability of the process inside of which the gems and metals we use have been obtained and uses only materials of known ethical origins.”
—Toby Pomeroy, Toby Pomeroy, designer
“Ethical jewelry begins with the customer demanding a product made with socially and environmentally responsible practices, free from child labor, dangerous conditions, and environmental damage. Independent certification standards are a must to ensure the integrity of the value chain. The ultimate goal for ethical jewelry is to have independently certified recycled and fair trade gold, and fair trade diamonds. Recycled gold will reduce the impact of additional dirty gold mining. Fair trade diamond and gold industry standards will ensure a higher income for artisanal miners and promote community development—providing the necessary funds for basic education and medical care.”
—Beth Gerstein, Brilliant Earth, designer and retailer
“My vision is that there will be a standard in the not-too-distant future for “ethical” or “fair trade” jewelry that reflects input from a broad variety of stakeholders along the supply chain and can be certified by an independent third party. The standard must require that the components of finished “ethical” jewelry products are mined and manufactured in a manner that minimizes or eliminates environmental and social harm and respects the rights of small-scale miners and industrial mine workers. Ultimately, what matters is perhaps what our customers think “ethical” means. Ideally, the production of jewelry could lead to improved economic opportunity and standard of living for all workers engaged in its production. That’s not the case now. Jewelry is a largely emotional product and it is important to an increasing number of savvy consumers that the story behind a piece is a positive one.”
—Jennifer Horning, Founder of Ethical Metalsmiths
