In a recent report by Vogue Magazine, sustainable jewellery was dubbed to overrule the jewellery industry altogether. Why so you may ask? For ages, consumers have demanded the best quality of whatever they purchase and their jewellery had to be the best. Knowing the value of precious metals and other animal-sourced ornaments, the demand started increasing monumentally across the globe.
The industry hence picked up to be an infamous one given the abuse of ethics and adversities that it entailed in quenching consumer demand. From child labour to its impact on the environment and not stopping only at it, the notorious precious metal jewellery industry even invoked wars. The movie Blood Diamond has represented the dark side of diamond corruption and its trade. Given the adversities brought into the world by the traditional jewellery industry, the time is right for sustainable jewellery to thrive as a concept and become the mainstay in the long run.
What is sustainable and vegan jewellery?
What differentiates sustainable jewellery from that other jewellery is what most of us don’t know. To explain it, more and more well-informed consumers are getting into understanding how their purchase doesn’t support any malpractice of the society or abuse of the environment for which they want to deeply understand the retailer’s ethical standards. The key differentiators to know the same are by learning about the retailer’s ethics and sustainability policy; recycling and repurposing practices, and last but not the least, the originating source of the stone and metals used in making the jewellery.
A majority of consumers are now conscious and do opt for sustainable jewellery even by paying an extra premium for the same. Sustainable and vegan jewellery are the ones that do not support the exploitation of labour, animal cruelty or environmental hazard in their production process.
Sustainable and vegan jewellery brands support local welfare as the ingredients come straight from specific regions and locales; promote ethically sourced plant-based jewellery like Cork leather, while dismissing cruelty towards animals for their hide or other vital parts; and rely on the new-age tech-based production process that minimizes pollution emission to reduce overall carbon footprint.
The Future of Sustainable and Vegan Jewellery
There are several manufacturers, both new-age and traditional ones, that are moving in the direction of achieving sustainability in their process. However, to achieve activism at all touchpoints i.e. sourcing of materials, combating complex fossil-fuel-powered supply chain dynamics and attaining affordable technology for production is currently very difficult for all of them. The demand needs to go up exponentially for the players in the sustainable jewellery field to be able to mass produce the jewellery cost-effectively. It jointly depends on the consumers to be well-informed and the industry fraternity to retrofit their jewellery production process by plugging in stringent sustainable actions at all touchpoints. It is a change which won’t see fruition overnight given the nominal market capitalization, but with a more conscious approach, we all will get there.
