Three Big Jewellery Brands CEO Vocalization: Synthetic Diamonds Are Fashion Products.

At the Conde Nast International international luxury forum held in Cape Town, South Africa, Van Cleef & Arpels (Van Cleef & Arpels), De Beers (Day Beers) and Tiffany (Tiffany) three executives of jewelry brands shared their views on synthetic diamonds, diamond sources and Chinese consumers.

Synthetic diamonds are fashion products, not luxuries.

Over the past few years, the heat of artificial diamonds has been rising because of its price advantage and more environmental protection.

Synthetic diamonds and natural diamonds are exactly the same in terms of chemical composition and properties, but unlike natural diamonds, they are not limited in yield.

In recent years, including Swarovski, Ada Diamonds and so on are increasing investment in synthetic diamonds.

In July of this year, Swarovski pferred its Diama from the gem department to the Atelier Swarovski of the luxury goods department. After being classified as Atelier Swarovski, the retail price of Diama brand jewelry was priced at $595 (see "ornate ambition" report: the artificial diamond is added, and the SWAROVSKI group has classified the artificial diamond brand Diama into its luxury department).

Diamond Foundry, a Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio participating in the investment, is developing synthetic diamonds that are almost the same as natural diamonds. With real diamonds as seeds, hundreds of diamonds can be produced in two weeks, each with 9 carats and more (see "real diamond" in the lab.)

What is the best way for Leonardo DiCaprio to invest in this start-up? "

In dealing with the wave of aggressive diamond synthesis, the views of CEO of the three brands are unanimously consistent: diamond is a fashion, not a luxury market.

CEO Alessandro Bogliolo of Tiffany said: "in my opinion, synthetic diamond has nothing to do with luxuries.

The key to luxury goods lies in its rarity, and the synthetic diamond that can be manufactured by hundreds of thousands is the antonym of "rarity".

(synthetic diamond) is a very successful field, but this is a completely different market from luxury goods.

Van Cleef & Arpels's CEO Nicolas Bos indicates that their team is working hard to ensure that no synthetic diamond is mixed into the supply chain. He said: "this is not the raw material we will use."

Although De Beers has insisted on not using artificial diamonds for many years, they broke their rules last year and launched the Lightbox Jewelry series synthetic diamond.

The price of the series is only $800 / carat, while the price of traditional natural diamonds is about $6000 / carat.

(see "ornate ambition" report: De Beers enters artificial diamond, the price from 4200 US dollars to 800 dollars per carat crazy!

"Synthetic diamond is a very potential market, but they are fashion, not luxury goods."

De Beers's CEO Bruce Cleaver said: "synthetic diamonds should be sold as fashion products."

At present, De Beers produces artificial diamonds in Ascot in the United Kingdom. In addition, there is a construction facility under construction in Portland, Oregon, USA (see "ornate ambition" report: De Beers's $95 million diamond factory has broken ground, and its annual output is expected to reach 500 thousand carats after completion).

Bruce Cleaver said that De Beers plans to invest $100 million in artificial diamonds in the next four years, which is negligible compared to the planned investment of 10 billion US dollars in natural diamond exploitation, marketing and research and development in the next 5 to 7 years.

Traceability of diamond sources and Chinese consumers

In addition to artificial diamonds, three executives also talked about other issues that consumers are very concerned about: whether the source of diamonds is ethical, and the impact of Chinese consumers on the diamond industry.

Cleaver said consumers are increasingly concerned about the source of diamonds, and they are "working hard to ensure that the source of diamonds is ethical."

"Our suppliers and other partners have signed a high standard agreement to ensure that the source of the diamond is in line with ethics and related employee benefits are guaranteed."

Cleaver said: "the source of diamonds is becoming more and more important. In the future, we will continue to strengthen communication."

"Our customers expect us to meet our highest standards."

Nicolas Bos said: "we have always asked for the best in environmental protection."

He said that Van Cleef & Arpels has greatly improved the pparency and traceability of jewelry sources, and "in a few years, we can achieve full source traceability".

However, Bos has also expressed concern about the issue of many brands in the market that strongly publicize diamond related ethics.

He stressed: "many companies are doing publicity in this area. I hope their strategy is going well, but I am a bit bored by their practice of criticizing the whole industry to promote themselves."

Nicolas Bos says Van Cleef & Arpels is very open to consumers' approach to the search for diamond sources.

For example, the gold they used to make jewelry was recovered from electronic equipment such as computers, but compared with these contents, they wanted to show their creativity and stories behind their jewelry and watches.

De Beers, Tiffany & Co and Van Cleef three executives said that the French yellow vest protest had a great impact on them, and Tiffany sales in France showed a "two digit decline".

"Chinese overseas tourists are very concerned about safety, so when the local situation is not very safe, they will not go shopping there."

Bogliolo said, "I hope the problem can be resolved as soon as possible, otherwise they will have a long-term impact on Paris's attractiveness to tourists."

De Beers revealed that in the second half of 2018, their sales in mainland China and Chinese tourists fell slightly.

But in the first half of this year, there has been signs of warming.

But Van Cleef seems to be an exception.

Bos revealed that their growth in the Chinese market is still very healthy, and there is no sign of slowing down.

Bos also mentioned that they still have room for more boutiques in China and the US market.

However, they do not plan to open a large number of new stores at present, but to modify the existing stores.

Author: Jiang Fan