Long before streetwear brands like Supreme popularized a business model built on limited-edition drops, the diamond industry used scarcity to drive up the desirability and perceived value of diamonds. There have always been a finite number of these sparkling chunks of carbon in the earth, making them feel all the more special.
There emerged an opportunity for disruption that has been seized by a number of entrepreneurs and investors, especially over the past couple of years, and especially with goals of luring millennials away from the mined industry with promises of better prices and better treatment of people and the planet. While lab-grown diamonds are 30-50% cheaper than mined ones, the issue of one method being more ethical and sustainable than another is less black and white. But more on that later.
On the philanthropy side, her foundation The Greener Diamond recently purchased 10 acres of "prime diamond mining land" in Liberia, which is being given back to the locals, whom they are training to grow their own food — a trade that had been lost over many years of civil war — so that they don't have to resort to diamond mining to live, according to Anderson. Miadonna is also a certified B Corp.
Another growing direct-to-consumer fine jewelry brand using lab-grown diamonds is Antwerp, Belgium-based Kimai, which gained visibility thanks in part to being worn by influencers and celebrities including one Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle. Founders Jessica Warch and Sidney Neuhaus both come from diamond trading families in Antwerp and saw lab-grown as a way to bring more transparency and inclusivity to the industry.
Personalization is also a big part of the engagement ring buying process at Diamond Foundry and Great Heights, both of which have online engagement ring "builders" where you can essentially design your own ring. Diamond Foundry also sees its collaborations with other well-known brands and retailers like Balmain, Dover Street Market and Jennifer Fisher as helpful in mainstreaming lab-grown and in elevating its own brand above others in the space.
"It's really about revitalizing the diamond story, and the diamond dream among the new customer of today," Kristina Buckley Kayel, managing director for North America, tells me. A couple of years ago, according to Kayel, the organization submitted an alert to the FTC "that there were consumer protection risks associated with the lack of clear terminology" around lab-grown diamonds.
Weindling rebukes this. "Here's my favorite, that somehow mining diamonds consumes less energy or something than lab-grown diamonds, but they're not sure. But that's what they think. This is like a Trump tweet, you know?" he says. "They've got a lot more money than us and they spent a lot of it putting out this information about lab-grown diamonds."
"The value proposition is very different," says Kayel. "Natural diamonds retain, and hold their value. They have enduring financial and emotional value over time. Whereas lab-grown diamonds, because they're being produced at scale, they're an industrial product, their value continues to drop." "The mined diamond business will always be around and particularly the luxury brands," says Great Heights' Bonifacino. "We are not attempting to position this brand as high-end luxury."
love for customized rings is unmatched!
“Personalization is also a big part of the engagement ring buying process at Diamond Foundry & Great Heights, both of which have online engagement ring 'builders' where you can essentially design your own ring.” You can literally work w/ any non mall store jeweler to do the same.
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