Fair-trade Jewelry – still no formal definition

Our good friend, Marc Choyt, at Reflective Images, an ethical jewelry company, recently published an article on AreaGreen.com where he provides insight for consumers into some of the challenges of bring fair-trade to the jewelry sector.

Marc makes several good points worth highlighting:

1. The existing models of fair-trade (eg. coffee) don’t really fit into the global jewelry framework.
2. Fair trade jewelry needs to go beyond the raw materials to include manufacturing.
3. Though “fair trade jewelry” is a commonly used term, there is no universal definition or formal certification.
4. Transparency is probably more relevant to conscious consumers than fair-trade designation.
5. There is a small community of passionate jewelry professionals (including Marc and me) who are involved in the efforts to bring third party cerfication to the jewelry industry.

Please read the full article.