Press Releases

Signet Jewelers Launches New Sourcing Protocol for Diamonds

Published

8 years ago

February 18, 2016

INSTORE Staff

(Press Release)
HAMILTON, BERMUDA – Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE and LSE: SIG), a diamond jewelry retailer, has launched the Signet Responsible Sourcing Protocol for Diamonds (D-SRSP), a protocol that provides increased transparency of the global diamond supply chain.

Signet has collaboratively developed and piloted the D-SRSP with input from experts in the diamond industry, civil society and governments. These included the De Beers Group, Rio Tinto, Dominion Diamond Corporation, the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), the United States Jewelry Council, the International Diamond Manufacturers Association, Partnership Africa Canada, the Diamond Development Initiative, Jewelers of America, officials from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Governments, and Signet diamond suppliers from around the world.

“The D-SRSP builds on existing diamond industry standards, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD’s Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains to ensure transparency through a collaborative process that is practical and workable,” says Mark Light, Signet CEO. “We have been active in the development of harmonized industry guidance and standards for many years and with the new Responsible Sourcing Protocol for Diamonds, we are asking our suppliers to carefully map their supply chains more rigorously than ever before.”

Conformance with the protocol, which requires suppliers to undertake due diligence on the sources of the diamonds they deliver to Signet, builds on years of initiatives by industry and governments. Over time, Signet envisions that the collaborative manner in which the protocol was designed will lead the D-SRSP to become an accepted industry reference for responsibly sourced diamonds. All companies involved in the diamond industry are encouraged to adopt the D-SRSP and use it in their own supply chains.

“Today’s consumers increasingly expect that companies act as responsible corporate citizens, held accountable for ensuring the integrity of our supply chain,” says Light. “Signet has been at the forefront of responsible sourcing in the jewelry supply chain, and as the D-SRSP becomes more engrained across the industry, the diamond supply chain will continue to become more transparent.”

When There’s No Succession Plan, Call Wilkerson

Bob Wesley, owner of Robert C. Wesley Jewelers in Scottsdale, Ariz., was a third-generation jeweler. When it was time to enjoy life on the other side of the counter, he weighed his options. His lease was nearing renewal time and with no succession plan, he decided it was time to call Wilkerson. There was plenty of inventory to sell and at first, says Wesley, he thought he might try to manage a sale himself. But he’s glad he didn’t. “There’s no way I could have done this as well as Wilkerson,” he says. Wilkerson took responsibility for the entire event, with every detail — from advertising to accounting — done, dusted and managed by the Wilkerson team. “It’s the complete package,” he says of the Wilkerson method of helping jewelers to easily go on to the next phase of their lives. “There’s no way any retailer can duplicate what they’ve done.”