Ethical Sourcing And Sustainability

Ethical Sourcing And Sustainability Are Issues That Have Become Impossible To Ignore In The Watch And Jewellery Industry. Critics And Research Show That Luxury Brands Are Now At A Crossroads: To Keep Up With Increasingly Conscious Consumers, Or Face ‘Trouble

- Hillary Kang

For all the glamour and gloss of the fine jewellery industry, much less has been said about where the stones that make up these staggering creations come from. And for a long time, the industry was content to maintain the status quo, an unsaid don't ask, don't tell' policy that would retain the mystique of these amazing works — or perhaps make them more palatable.

But in recent years the topic has become harder to ignore by both consumers and brands. The advent of the Internet and social media have exposed the numerous faults in the diamond mining industry this, after the famous “blood diamond” scandal in the 1990s, which put a spotlight on the industry's insidious underbelly and its lack of transparency. A sampling of historical damage, from the Human Rights Watch: The forcible displacement of indigenous peoples and local residents that live near mines. Children injured, or even killed, when working in small-scale mining pits. Waterways and soil polluted with toxic chemicals, harming whole communities; one study cited by the BBC in 2020 estimates that the polishing of just one carat of diamonds emits 160 kg of carbon dioxide: In five years, this would produce between 160 to 170 megatonnes of CO2 emissions the equivalent of Singapore's yearly emissions for the entire country.