SUSAN WHEELER CURATED an international discussion about responsibility in the jewelry industry last month during the Chicago Responsible Jewelry Conference, which she founded as part of the nonprofit organization Responsible Jewelry Transformative.
Wheeler, conference CEO, believes the decision to participate in the annual conference is not strictly a business decision. “People really show up because it’s a heart and soul thing, not a business thing. Once they know some of the things happening, I don’t see how people can turn away and not get involved. It’s a personal decision to come, even if you own a store, even if you work for a bigger company.”
Jewelry industry stakeholders from around the world came together for the eighth annual conference, on Aug. 9-10, which co-located with the INSTORE Show. The event focused on the industry’s social and environmental challenges and how to create responsible supply chains for jewelry materials.
Featuring over a dozen discussions and presentations, the conference called for jewelers and consumers alike to support initiatives that promote responsibility and sustainability in mining and sourcing. Change in the industry, organizers say, will come about through transparency, education, empowering consumers, and collaboration between industry stakeholders, governments, academia and NGOs. The CRJC is where those initiatives are born and spread to the wider industry.
“This conference is about helping us be much more aware of what’s happening to all the other people in our supply chains or the people that are affected by our supply chains when we make the choices we make every day,” says Andrea Hill, CEO and Founder of Hill Management Group and producer of the CRJC, in the conference’s opening speech.
Over the years, discussions have delved into sex trafficking in mining communities, the rights of indigenous people and efforts to restore terrain damaged by mining.
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Wheeler warns that as consumers learn more about problematic issues in the jewelry industry, particularly greenwashing, everyone should prepare for increasing skepticism and difficult questions.
“The next big thing in responsible jewelry is going to be those who still want to keep all discussion within the industry and those who are frustrated that we’re not seeing enough change and want to take these things to consumers,” Wheeler says. “I don’t think we’ve come far enough by talking and continuing these conversations among ourselves.”
Speaker Morgan Burger, a third-generation jewelry retailer, investigative journalist and graduate researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, produced a documentary chronicling her journey to Greenland, where she investigated offshore diamond mining exploration and shed light on the potential implications for local communities and their livelihoods.
“I wish that there wasn’t as much fear about living in transparency,” Burger says. “I believe that if we were transparent about our industry and its historical impacts, we would gain back a lot of the respect that we’ve lost over the years. I just wish people weren’t as afraid so that they could all come in this room with us and then we could all make a difference.”
The presentations explored the use of ethical metals in jewelry, the challenges faced in the artisanal and small-scale mining diamond market, and efforts to ensure equity in the diamond industry. Conference speakers also addressed the pervasive problem of mining on lands without consent from the owners, citing examples from countries like Brazil, Mozambique, and Greenland.
Post-conference, Wheeler emphasized the need to reignite the Kimberley process and continue to raise awareness about the implications of terms such as recycled gold. That’s one area where the CRJC has made progress, she says, in that recycled gold is now recognized as a greenwashing term by some larger groups in the industry. “It’s been a long, long road to get there and we’re there, but we need to keep going with it. I mean, that was a huge step.”
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“Recycled gold does not necessarily mean just recycled gold,” Wheeler says. “It could mean gold that contributes to deforesting the Amazon.” The definition of recycled gold is so loose that any gold that’s been reprocessed can be sold under the label, giving recycled gold a “green halo” it doesn’t deserve.
“No one should use the terminology recycled gold or conflict-free diamonds to mark any of their jewelry as ethical,” Wheeler says. “They need to take more steps to it. They need to have traceable minerals, gemstones and diamonds.
“I think it’s easy to believe when you hear that a diamond is conflict-free that you think that it means everything. You think it means that there’s no child labor. You think it means that people are all benefiting from diamonds the way they have in Botswana. It’s easy to believe what you’re told.”
On the other hand, jewelers who are aware of their specific sourcing are better equipped to tell that story. “Jewelers should be able to say that none of the gold they use was derived from indigenous lands without their consent,” Wheeler says. “For everybody sure that their supply chain is free of that, we can begin using some of these statements.”
Wheeler says one-size-fits-all marketing about the Kimberley Process or the benefits of mines in certain regions leaves out many important things. “I don’t think it’s the fault of jewelers,” she says. “It’s the way we’re marketed to. But jewelers shouldn’t accept that and say, OK. It is now possible to find ethical gem suppliers, traceable gold, fair-mined or fair-trade gemstones, and recycled diamonds.
“It’s all out there. It wasn’t when I started out as a jeweler.”
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Each speaker at the conference was asked to name one thing they would like the jewelry industry to change in order to be more responsible. Here are some of their answers:
Mona Avalos, senior knowledge coordinator for the planetGOLD Global Project, encourages jewelers to tell the story of the products they sell, including the origin or source story. “I appreciate when companies have stories that are connected to their products. It shows a sense of accountability and responsibility. I think it personalizes the product; it just doesn’t seem like it’s coming off a conveyor belt.” The planetGOLD program works in partnership with governments, the private sector, and artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) communities in more than 20 countries to improve the production practices and work environment of artisanal and small-scale miners with a focus on mercury-free technology.
Juliana Posada Lopera, miner, La Gabriela Mine, Colombia, who has benefited from planetGOLD programs, says education within Colombia is vital to making changes in gold mining, and finding ways to replace mercury in mining. “It’s a very difficult transition from mercury to no mercury. It’s a costly process and a big change in thinking and ideology as well. Along with educating and helping people understand, there are a lot of practices and ideas that we need to unlearn for that to happen. We want jewelers to tell our story as a small-scale miner. When you get to know us from the get-go as being one of the first stages in the supply chain, then you get to really understand us and our story. When jewelers work with gold that is certified fair-mined, then we can guarantee traceability, which reflects well on us.”
Ana Carolina Alfinito, Brazil’s legal advisor for Amazon Watch, presented the U.S. premiere of The Ailing Forest, a documentary highlighting the devastating effects of illegal gold mining on the indigenous populations of Brazil. Alfinito urges the jewelry industry to respect the self-determination of indigenous people and other traditional communities and to respect their fundamental right to consent, including to say no to mining.
Stanley Zale, president, Zale Advisors, LLC, led an international discussion about the crucial opportunity to shape a more transparent and verifiable diamond supply chain.
“Change has to start somewhere, sometime, and I think a challenge that we have as an industry is there’s work happening in this group, boots-on-the ground work that’s sensational, and at the other end of the industry, if you will, you know you’ve got some noble efforts that are happening with other initiatives that are being led by some of the large European jewelry companies. How do we get everyone in the industry at the table together, to work together collaboratively? If the Kimberley Process is not the solution, then let’s figure it out. But I think it has to start with us as an industry. All the relevant players must find a way to sit down together.”
Kyle Livingston, international relations officer team lead for the U.S. Department of Labor, led a discussion on labor rights in the artisanal and small-scale diamond mining sector, exploring how the U.S. Department of Labor is raising awareness of labor exploitation, including forced labor and child labor, in the gold and diamond sectors. “Know where your goods are coming from and where they’re going,” Livingston says. “I think all companies large and small can ask questions to begin to really dig deep into their value chain. Understand where things are coming from, how they’re being made. I think we’re all doing it but, doing it with even more vigor” would be an important progression.
Greg Valerio, founding director of PeaceGold, said he has been told by representatives of A-list jewelry brands that pursuing fair trade would devalue their brands. “When you introduce a jeweler to a mining community and you sit him down and they talk, that’s the spark. That’s what started this whole thing off and that is what is going to continue to energize it until we get this thing to a movement where actually the big A-list brands can’t sit on the sidelines.”
Stephen D’Esposito, president & CEO, Regeneration and RESOLVE, and Holly McHugh, VP for sustainability and social impact for Mejuri, discussed how recovered gold from legacy mines in Alaska is being used in Mejuri’s jewelry collections. Mejuri is a founding partner of Regeneration, a social enterprise focused on reviving legacy and abandoned mining sites through regenerative methods while restoring surrounding habitats, including riverbeds.
“I would like the definitions of recycled to be incredibly clear and much more honest,” McHugh says. D’Esposito urges everyone in the industry to get involved in sustainability issues. “It’s in the jewelry industry’s interest from large brands and high-end brands to everybody, to rethink and then open up space for these projects. I’ve spent a ton of time advancing global policy initiatives, but you don’t move the needle unless you have partnerships with risk-willing and leadership-willing jewelers everywhere from one-stop, one-person companies to Walmart, frankly, so let’s open that space up. That’s my plea and my advice for the industry to get ahead of the sustainability issues that I think in some ways they’re behind on.”
Christina Villegas, director of mining, PACT, took part in a panel discussion on determining fair wages for workers at colored-gemstone mines. Villegas said there’s no excuse not to begin to source gemstones responsibly, now. “I think the jewelry sector needs to buy the good stuff. I think they need to stop making excuses and buy the good stuff now because it’s available. I feel very strongly about that because there’s so much choice available right now and it’s about damn time we start buying it.”
Eric Braunwart, founder, Columbia Gem House, says she hope consumers develop sufficient awareness that when they walk into a jewelry store, they want to know about the products they’re buying. “They already know they’re beautiful. They already know they’d like them. They’re already in that store and then I would like to see every one of you be able to answer their questions.”
Erin S. Daily, co-founder, Brooklyn Metal Works & Specific Gravity, says education is critical to bringing a deeper understanding of sourcing and the supply chain to every classroom that’s dealing with material processes from art and craft.
Melissa Scoppa, founder, Melissa Scoppa Fine Jewelry: “I wish that there could be a cap put on the green washing, like if there was a fact checker that could just come around. Like they do on some of the news stations.”
Nora McCarthy, owner and director, Gallery 2052: “I got into this because I studied art, and I’m an artist myself, and I think from the art jewelry end or the designers represented, I’d love to see more transparency in who makes the work and credit given where credit is due. I firmly believe if you’re not identifying the artist who made each piece, then you’re not actually representing artists. From a consumer standpoint, I want to see people wearing more interesting things. You can tell we make what people might deem weird work, but I am so sick of seeing tiny gold hoops on everyone. I want to see people value the artistry inherent in the piece.
Barbara Wheat, executive director of Ethical Metalsmiths: “I would like to remember to try to have these conversations with people when I’m at trade shows or conferences. Unless I’m here, I must admit that it’s not always at the forefront of my mind, and so I’d also like to get more ideas about how to approach others. And you know people will have different ideas and visions of how to go about doing things in the industry. I’m just hoping that I’ll learn to be more aware of that and maybe have a better impact that way.”
Sarah Holden, studio artist and instructor, The Chicago Industrial Arts and Design Center: “I’d like access. There’s a lot of terminology I’ve heard a lot more about here. If there were one place we could go and students can go and consumers could go to learn about this, I think that would do a lot of good.
