What’s It Like To Be A Woman In The Jewelry Industry?

The jewelry industry is a tough business to be in. Every year, 1,000s of independent jewelers go under. The main players in jewelry continue to struggle to market to women in an industry continuing to target men predominantly. As a woman in the jewelry industry, we’re faced with both an opportunity to address the gaps in marketing and also the challenge of establishing ourselves in an industry that is very much dominated by men. 

Women Are Underserved

Jewelry brands often market to men as ‘gifts for women’ and so despite women wearing the jewelry, the marketing consistently is more male-friendly as they are assigned the role by these corporations of being the buyer.

In the meantime, when women are buying earrings or other jewelry, it’s not uncommon to hear comments like, “I can’t try on anything comfortably”, “Every store looks the same”, “They’re not talking to me”, or “It’s all white. There’s not enough color.”

Facts About Women And Jewelry

• Only 30% of diamond jewelry is being sold to women buying for themselves. The saying, “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend” doesn’t really hold any truth, anymore.

• Although many women buy fine jewelry on impulse or to celebrate a personal milestone, nearly half of all jewelry purchases by women are made with no specific occasion in mind.

• A total of 81% of jewelry in North America is purchased by women, either independently or with a partner.

• By 2030, women will control two-thirds of consumer wealth in North America. Women are buying more, celebrating themselves, and are being more vocal about what they want and how they want to be represented when it comes to jewelry.

The Future Of Jewelry Is Female

All over the world, independent female-driven jewelry brands are filling the gaps. High-quality, handmade jewelry made by women is being sold to women everywhere. No longer is the advertising model gauged towards selling to men and positioning jewelry as an expression of romance. In the last two decades, there has been a noticeable shift to using jewelry to share dialogue, cultural expression, ideas, relationships, and to tell stories.

These days, more and more jewelry is being bought by women spending on themselves as opposed to jewelry being a token or gift from a man. Unfortunately, the biggest jewelry brands aren’t capitalizing as well as smaller and more independent companies are. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It just means you have to look a little harder as a woman if you want female-prepared jewelry. While some of the world’s big jewelry brands are falling behind, it’s opening up the market for new names to come right up the middle and lay their claim to dominance in the jewelry industry.

In fact, jewelry made by women is driving huge sales, especially internationally. AUrate, KBH Jewels, Mejuri, Melissa Joy Manning, Vrai & Oro, and Corail Blanc are all growing jewelry brands re-educating the market on the importance of understanding women and marketing towards women.

Those aren’t the only ones, either. A trend in buying ethical jewelry online has involved more brands run by women being featured. A lot of small jewelry shops have taken to training their staff on how to direct their questions towards women as opposed to going through their partner and have taken to decorating, branding, and creating policies and processes that make jewelry buying more women-friendly.