Fair trade jewelry

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The notion of Fair Trade jewelry, particularly in the mainstream jewelry trade, is a relatively recent phenomena. This issue has gained prominence in the jewelry world partly as a result of the film, Blood Diamond, released in December 2006. The film exposes the conflict diamond trade that took place in Sierra Leone in 1999, and was a strong indictment against the jewelry industry. It showed how the diamonds were used to finance a bloody civil war.

Diamond business comprises over fifty percent of all jewelry business in the United States. Independent jewelers and the Diamond Trading Company were passionately concerned about the impact of this film on their business. As it turned out, the film had minimal impact on diamond sales. Safeguards, specifically the Kimberly Process, satisfied the conscience of the public — even though the effectiveness of Kimberly is still debated among industry monitors.

Some leaders in the diamond industry, particularly [Martin Rapaport], recognized that the issue of Conflict Diamonds is really an issue of Fair Trade. Other [smaller manufacturers] have joined the movement. Though there is wide recognition in the US market of some Fair Trade products, such as coffee and chocolate, few customers on the retail or even jewelry trade level have a clear concept of Fair Trade in the jewelry world. At this point, those who are taking leadership in Fair Trade jewelry are, metaphorically, voices in the wilderness.

If you search on line, you will find a few small companies that are producing artisan jewelry. These companies, though admirable in their intention, actually represent a negligible share of the ethnic jewelry market. They are invisible to the main stream jewelry market, which consists primarily of branded items and relies mostly on the diamond trade, high karat gold, watches, and precious gemstones.

Jewelry is made up of component pieces. The most publicized movement toward Fair Trade in the jewelry business has come from the area of gemstones. There are producers, most noteworthy, [Columbia Gem House], that have set up mining practices that are fair and environmentally sound, while at the same time, channel money fairly back into the community.

In developing countries, it is not easy to improve the lives of those affected through community projects. If the people in these poor communities do not feel that the project is their own, then the development money may become wasted and the whole effort will have little positive result. Development that really improves the long term well being of poor communities takes more than just money — it takes a strong commitment which includes often developing local leadership that is not corrupt.

Columbia’s example, which includes development, has been widely toured in the jewelry trade press. However, the gemstone trade is huge. Very few precious and semi-precious stones are Fair Trade produced. For example, a typical jewelry manufacturer will purchase a large number of jewelry-quality garnets that have to meet a certain price range in order to be competitive in the market place. These semi-precious gems are mined in Africa and cut in India and not available on a Fair Trade basis as yet. This is but one example of the semi-precious stone trade in the developing world. Small locally owned mines may shape the stone as well as mine it, yet they may not get Fair Trade value for their efforts when they sell their stones to buyers.

Beyond the gemstone question, there are a wide variety of components which will have to fall under Fair Trade Jewelry’s watchful eye, such as hand woven chain or findings much of which is manufactured in the developing world. Bali, Indonesia, is a place that would seem perfect for Fair Trade jewelry. Their hand silver work is arguably the finest in the world, and it is steeped in tradition. To manufacture on a large scale, many companies operating out of Bali will take an item and distribute it to the local villages. Each artisan will purchase the silver in its raw form which they will refine in order to create their own sterling, which is .925 percent fine. The product that comes back is often inconsistent and often is not sterling silver, as hallmarked.

In addition, environmentally responsible mining and refining are more difficult as well. Gold and silver purchased from a supplier can come from a wide variety of sources that can change from day to day.

Jewelry manufacturing on a large scale thereby, does not easily fit the small village model as textiles or some agricultural product might. First, there is the cost of silver and gold which is high for someone in a small village in a third world country. Second, there is the quality issue. In production jewelry manufacturing, there is an extremely low tolerance for variation, because variation, when it comes to precious metal, costs more.

The final difficulty to overcome is delivery time. Time schedules in the developed and developing world do not easily match. A manufacturer can spend tens of thousands of dollars of marketing money to get a large order. The stakes are high. A manufacturer supplying a catalog or department store can be heavily penalized if an item is delivered late. The excuse that there was a holiday in the middle of a production schedule is difficult to accept.

The village model is extremely difficult; perhaps, too difficult to surmount. Though the factory model is not a preferred method for Fair Trade manufacturing, in order for Fair Trade jewelry to be manufactured on a large scale, there will have to be some type of factory structure. These factory conditions must be subject to full disclosure. They will include, but not be limited to the following elements:

• Providing free room and board for their employees: Many factory workers leave home for long periods of time in order to do their production. The factory must support this by providing quarters.

• Access to good nutritious food and clean water must be made available.

• Wages well above the minimum wage standards.

Minimum wages are not sufficient. People must be well paid.

• Clean, environmentally sound and well ventilated working conditions should be available. In-house environments must be safe and toxins and waste products must be dealt with responsibly.

• Paid vacation. A Fair Trade manufacturer in Bali, for example, might close down during the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, and provide pay at that time

• Profit sharing.

• A fund for medical expenses.

• Respect for all cultural and religious traditions where possible. .

Another difficulty with establishing Fair Trade practice in the developing world where jewelry is produced is that there are gray areas. Consider child labor. We imagine a young boy or girl in a toxic factory, working twelve hours a day. But is it wrong for a 17 year old who works in a cutting factory supporting a family, even though the legal working age might be 18? How about the ten-year old, working with his father, learning to make hand woven chains with techniques that have been passed down through generations in a Balinese village? Would such traditional apprenticeships be discarded?

These and many other issues have yet to be sorted out. At present there is no association or third party certification to support Fair Trade in the jewelry world. Rather, there is a loose network of players interested in conducting socially responsible business. A manufacturer interested in this issue would have to source out supply chains and products that indeed support Fair trade. This is extremely difficult to do, as even a small manufacturing company can have thousands of inventory pieces from all over the world. It is time consuming and at present, can not be 100% completely Fair Trade.

Yet there is little doubt the movement for Fair Trade in the jewelry industry will catch on. Martin Rapaport, in the January 2007, edition of the Rapaport Report, said, “Fair Trade has the potential to become the ultimate luxury product of our century… not only to compete, but to dominate.”

It is only a matter of time before those who purchase their jewelry strongly connect to the manufacturing process as well. Jewelry is usually purchased to mark an occasion or a commitment. For others, it is about having something beautiful. It is not a commodity like gasoline. It is a often a luxury item purchased for emotional reasons. How would the customer feel knowing that the gem they purchased funded a civil war or that the ring they bought for their mother was made in toxic working conditions in a third world sweat shop? What man would ever knowingly purchase a conflict diamond to complete an engagement ring?

Yet that is exactly what has happened in the past, and the movement in Fair Trade shows that at least some segments of the jewelry industry are waking up. The percentage of people who are concerned enough about corporate social responsibility is the same demographic that supports the organic movement — it is a strong and growing segment of the population. How fast the Fair Trade movement takes hold also depends to a large degree upon how much pressure the public exerts.