Diamond prices to keep falling
1 Miners are preparing for price cuts of as much as 15 percent on rough diamonds this year, following an 18 percent drop in 2015 that threw the industry into turmoil. — Financial Times, 12/27/15
For the first time ever, Pantone picked two colors of the year in 2016.
Pantone’s Colors of 2016: Rose Quartz and Serenity
2 It’s twins! Color authority Pantone has for the first time anointed two colors of the year for 2016. Dubbed Rose Quartz and Serenity, they are shades of pale pink and baby blue. — Wall Street Journal, 12/7/15
Pandora is Coming to a Jareds Near You
3 Signet Jewelers will add Pandora shop-in-shops at 200 of its 268 Jared stores this year. — Akron Beacon Journal, 12/4/15
Nobel Prize to Be Made from Fairmined Gold
4 This year’s Nobel Peace Prize will be made from Fairmined gold. The Norwegian Mint, which produces the medal, has teamed up with the Alliance for Responsible Mining to highlight the problems faced by artisanal and small-scale gold miners in some of the poorest parts of the world. — IDEX Online News, 12/7/15
FTC Proposes Jewelry Guides amendments
5 The Federal Trade Commission has released proposed revisions to its much-used jewelry guides, which seek to tighten existing regulations on lead glass — filled rubies, rhodium-plated metals and gemstone varieties such as yellow emeralds. This is the first major overhaul since 1996. — IDEX Online NEWS, 1/5/16
Blue Nile Launches Estate Collection
6 Blue Nile has launched its first estate jewelry collection, which features pieces “handpicked by its experts” from estate sales. — INSTORE, 12/7/15
Diamonds Created at Room Temperature
7 After decades of testing, a team from North Carolina State University has discovered a speedy way to make diamonds that can be done without squeezing carbon under extreme pressure or heating it at rock-melting temperatures. In the process, they also discovered a new “phase” of carbon, known as Q-carbon, which is ferromagnetic, harder than diamond and glows in the dark. — Smithsonian.com, 12/6/15
Facebook Takes on Angie’s List and Yelp
8 Facebook is quietly testing a new feature that will direct users to the best-rated service providers in their area. At facebook.com/services, the social network has compiled a searchable directory of service providers, like contractors, doctors’ offices, and yes jewelry stores. — Techcrunch, 12/15/15
Millennials Do Like Diamonds After All
Millennials are almost twice as likely as non-millennials to have bought diamond jewelry as a holiday gift, according to a survey carried out by the Diamond Producers Association. That translates into one in three Gen Y men giving diamond jewelry in the recent holiday season, up from one in four in 2014. —Rapaport TradeWire, 1/1/16
Store Improvements Tax Break EXTENDED
10 Congress has passed a permanent extension of the 15-year depreciation on store improvements. Jewelers of America welcomed the measure, saying “It helps jewelers — whether they rent or own their retail space — to update their stores more often to stay competitive.” — INSTORE, 12/20/15
This article originally appeared in the Feburary 2015 edition of INSTORE.