Jewelry Industry Blog

Jewelry Transactions in Canada Fall 1% for Christmas Season

admin — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 10:21:59 +0000

Payment-processing company Moneris Solutions reported that Christmas retail transactions at the retail counters across Canada increased for some categories, despite a difficult enviornment. Moneris reported that department and apparel store sales made significant gains in December, while discount stores suffered the steepest decline in credit- and debit-card spending out of all the categories that it tracks. Jewelry retailers were the least volatile performers in December 2008, with total transactions down only 1 percent from December 2007.

The average total spend per transaction, across all merchant categories, decreased 3 percent, which Moneris attributed to steep discounts and lower gasoline prices. Total sales in Canada grew 2 percent in December from one year ago.

“For months, there have been signs of a softening retail market, as Canadians become more conscious and restrained in their spending habits,” said Brian Green, senior vice president of Moneris Solutions. “Our national, multi-method-of-payment data proves that, in fact, Canadians continued to spend during the holiday season and the number of transactions actually rose over previous year. These numbers offer merchants and consumers alike a reliable pulse on the Canadian economy.”

For the second and third weeks of December, Moneris reported a 21 percent increase in transactions at jewelry retailers. Consumer charges at department stores were up 9 percent for the holiday season, and apparel store sales climbed 6 percent. “Astonishingly, discount stores failed to live up to the growth predicted by some retail analysts and actually suffered a decline of 11 percent in credit and debit card dollar volume,” Moneris noted.

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Silver Polishing Cloths Maintain Best Jewelry Health

admin — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:12:10 +0000

Have you ever thought of the ways to maintain the jewelries which you prefer to buy almost at each month? No! It is expected that you will say in the same manner. Since many of us though in the real sense are jewelry buffs do not care to maintain the jewelries properly. What should be done in this case? Keep in mind when it comes to caring for your fine jewelry, it’s important to choose something that’s safe for your specific metal and/or gemstones.

With so many jewelry cleaners and polishing cloths on the market, it can be difficult to know which the best and safest choice is. But if you use the silver polishing cloths, there are brighter chances of proper maintenance. The reason is that the silver polishing cloths are soft, and are made with the utmost care for the sake of polishing the valuable jewelries.

There is always a need to maintain the shine and gallant appearance of the very jewelry like the initial years, so that it can be used for a great number of years. Well, there are many who do not prefer to buy the silver polishing cloths, since being ignorant they do not care, and therefore have to suffer from an untimely damage. Besides there is every possibility of the tarnish of the jewelry’s color without the application of the silver polishing cloths.

How the tarnish gets produced? Tarnish is produced by so many sources that you would have to avoid nearly everything in life to prevent it totally. Certain foods, salts such as body salts, oils, materials such as rubber, wool and felt will tarnish silver but so will the air we live in. So what do we do about it? Just be sensible and avoid allowing hairsprays, foods and chemicals from coming in contact with it. The best prevention is early cleaning and proper storage. I on my own have found that storage in a plastic airtight bad will keep silver very well and tarnish free. Perhaps by now you have surely realized about the necessity of the silver polishing cloths! Now how to proceed with the silver polishing cloths? If you have silver jewelry you can wash the very jewelry with a very mild detergent and rub in smooth up and down lines after drying it with soft silver polishing cloths. Can the toothbrushes be used? Just forget about toothbrushes and all the rest of it if you wash it occasionally and polish with the proper cloth.

If you have let it go and not cleaned it for a good while then you might need to use a soft brush and a stronger detergent and warm water, but remember these are clearing away the grime but they are abrasive too. In addition, for betterment you can also pay money for tarnish absorbing strips and cloths to place in the jewelry box and these works quite well. However, it has come to the knowledge that series of experiments are already on in respect of jewelry to make the life free of any hassle.

The best specimen of this can be cited from the fact that a lot of jewelry is being made with tarnish- resistant silver and this will overcome the tarnish problem almost entirely. Some jewelry is rhodium plated and this is also tarnish resistant. The less you pay the less chance that the item will be tarnish resistant. Lastly, it is to be said, that though you can use the electrochemical methods, it is better to apply the silver polishing cloths. Since till now there has not been and never will be any alterative of human endeavor.

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Police searching for lost jewelry box

admin — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:01:04 +0000

Draper police are looking for help finding a missing watch box full of men’s jewelry lost on a roadway between Draper and Salt Lake City.
The green Rolex box contains tens of thousands of dollars worth of men’s jewelry, including a ruby pinkie ring and a wedding band, according to Draper Police Chief Mac Connole.
An employee of the jewelry’s owner lost the box when he set in on the trunk of a car before driving from Draper to Salt Lake City on Interstate 15. If a person found the box and kept it, they could be facing charges, Connole said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Draper Police at 801-576-6300 or 801-840-4000. The owner is offering a reward.

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‘Idol:’ Loose Diamonds

admin — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:10:34 +0000

Jason Castro. I think it’s pretty clear by now that this guy, stoner-cutie that he happens to be, is not capable of anything more than he’s been doing: singing flat, mellow versions of whatever song he happens to find the sheet music for. I guess you could call that “making it his own,” but it’s really more like “running another ditty through the bland-o-meter.” Are we ready to admit that his triumphant “Hallelujah” was really about the song, and not about Jason at all?

David Cook. My favorite, he remains. And I think he was brilliant to choose a couple of lesser-known Neil Diamond songs, which he could present as modern-ish rockers without having to borrow something else from Chris Cornell. I suppose I agree with the judges that his second song was better than his first, but I liked them both. And I find that he’s the only remaining contestant who truly puts it on the line when he sings – pushes his voice, pushes his emotions. (David Archuleta can sound emotional, too, but it always feel robotic to me: calculated and a little bit too perfect.)

Brooke White. Argh. “I’m A Believer” is one of my favorite songs of all time, and while I wouldn’t necessarily call her version of it “a nightmare,” it certainly wasn’t good. Really, it showed off all of her weaknesses as an artist: She doesn’t have a very big vocal range, and she absolutely cannot project anything but melancholy. Her happy songs are always near-disasters. So yes, she did a much better job with her melancholy piano version of “I Am…I Said,” but how believable was it, really? After all, she kept smiling about how weird it was to sing about Arizona having a shore.

David Archuleta. Ah, America’s favorite beautifully-singing little robot. I did not care at all for his soft-rock version of the Red Sox Nation Theme Song, particularly since he wasted little time before launching into the cheesetastic “hands…touching hands” part. And yes, I agree with Simon that “America” was a brilliant choice, though he doesn’t need saving like Kristy Lee Cook. Also, I give him extra-super bonus points for not singing “Turn On Your Heartlight.”

Syesha Mercato. As soon as she started her barefoot version “Hello Again,” my heart sank: So soon, we’re back to the wannabe diva stuff? But she redeemed herself with her girl-band take on “Thank the Lord for the Night Time.” And, unlike Brooke, she’s able to sing an upbeat song and look like she’s actually having fun. Yeah, I’ll agree with Simon that it wasn’t transcendent. But it made Jason Castro look like the cute little amateur he is. If she goes before he does this week, I’m going to make my cat wear a little black armband.

Autor: Joanna Weiss

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High prices are as good as gold in the jewelry market

admin — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 10:37:58 +0000

Yellow gold has never completely fallen out of favor with the fashion crowd, but over the past decade the public took more of a shine to sterling silver and platinum. However, gold’s fortunes had already started to turn when it hit $1,000 an ounce in March.

Even as gold prices come back down, jewelers expect it will remain an attractive accessory for those who want something not everyone can have. Demand for gold jewelry was up 22 percent in 2007 over the previous year, according to the World Gold Council.

“We like to think women buy jewelry because they love it, and design is our driving force and we think it’s what women respond to,” says Jon King, senior vice president at Tiffany & Co. “But there is a certain aspect of attraction that comes as a result of an increased awareness of the value of the material.”

Adding to gold’s luster is more creativity in design and technical processes that allow it to be shaped and shaded in new ways. Designer Paloma Picasso pairs gold with complementary stones such as green peridot and citrine, while Tiffany’s Frank Gehry collection features a smoky black gold in addition to yellow, white and rose golds, all of which are shaded by the alloys in the metal.

Mixing metals, either different golds or gold with silver or platinum, was at first popular at the turn of the 20th century, King explains, but is again en vogue for jewelry on the heels of a similar boom in the tabletop market.

“A renaissance in gold is happening,” Duvall O’Steen, spokeswoman for the gold council, who notes that gold has been embraced in home decor, beauty products, vodka and even cigars wrapped in gold leaf. “Americans tend to like things as they become more expensive.”

For now, the cost of gold jewelry hasn’t kept pace with rising commodity prices. O’Steen says it will take three to six months for retailers to feel pressure to increase their prices, since jewelry is typically ordered several months ahead of time.

However, some consumers are concerned about buying “dirty gold.” Several major U.S. retailers have signed on to a No Dirty Gold campaign by Oxfam America and the advocacy group Earthworks to reform mining practices that are bad for workers and the environment. Tiffany, for example, says it traces its gold from the source and throughout the jewelry-making process.

Vintage or recycled gold is one option recommended by the campaign — but it might look different from modern options. Over the last two years the trend has moved away from 14- and 18-karat gold toward 20 or 22 karats, O’Steen says. The result are pieces with a richer color and the potential for high shine.

“When you’re dealing with luxury goods, you want the rich color that looks regal and important,” she says.

There’s also a keen interest in texture, which is often accomplished with laser etching, and the more affordable mix of gold and ceramics, such as an open link bracelet with every third link made of a ceramic material.

If the economy continues to sour, O’Steen predicts shoppers will turn to the classics, including cuff bracelets or necklaces with heart or cross motifs. They were also big in the 1970s — the last time gold was at a premium in both cost and popularity.

During the ’70s gold boom, people tended to sell off their jewelry for scrap, so any piece that did survive became that much more valuable. “There is always a market for gold, especially old Victorian pieces,” reports Robbin Mullin, owner of Antiques Anonymous in Washington.

Gold also ruled when it came to engagement and wedding jewelry, says Jennifer Hicks, publisher of Elegant Bride and Modern Bride magazines. Over time, though, platinum became the standard — and it still is.

Gold is making a slow comeback, but Hicks says that’s because of ever-evolving tastes, not price. Gold was considered flashy 10 years ago; now it’s become more sophisticated.

At luxury jeweler Cartier, some of the most popular gold designs can withstand “trends,” says Frederic de Narp, president and CEO of Cartier North America. The gold Trinity ring, created from three interlocking rings, has been sold for more than 80 years.

“Today, the design is just as relevant as it was in 1924 and is one of the most recognizable designs in the world,” de Narp says.

Still, Mullin, who wears a gold watch chain and fob almost every day, isn’t happy to see prices go so high, fearing they will scare off some shoppers. O’Steen expects the mid-market — those $75 gold hoop earrings – to take the hardest hit, probably during the holiday shopping season.

The bright spot for jewelers is that the public perception of the intrinsic value of gold seems to be high.

“If you’re going to spend a weak dollar, you want to spend it on a product that will last,” O’Steen says.

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New state law targets lead in jewelry

admin — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 10:07:21 +0000

Hipsters beware: That naval piercing or nose ring may be hazardous to your health. In rare cases, seizures, organ failure and even death can occur.
That is the message from the California Department of Toxic Substance Control, which is enforcing a new state law that regulates lead in jewelry, especially piercing jewelry.
That law went into effect March 1.
“Body piercings may be particularly vulnerable to poisoning since lead can enter the bloodstream through the pierced areas,” Maureen Gorsen, director of California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control, said in a written statement.

To get the point across, officials from the department were at Zebra Tattoo & Body Piercing Shop on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley last week to spread the word that jewelry must have less than 10 percent lead as of March 1 and less than 6 percent by Aug. 30, 2009.

If piercing shops violate the new law, they can face fines of up to $2,500 a day for each piece in their possession.

Kerrie Naslund, 34, a senior piercer at Zebra for 16 years, said she is confident that her shop is lead-free because it gets most of its jewelry from American manufacturers who provide certificates showing the metals in piercing jewelry they buy.

California piercing shops that buy from oversees, where there is little or no lead regulation, might be in trouble, though.

“Once this story breaks, I’m sure some of the piercing studios are going to reconsider the good deals they have gotten on jewelry from oversees,” Naslund said. “They’re going to be a little nervous.”

At Zebra, state employees showed off one of four new $40,000 X-ray machines that can detect lead in jewelry, and staff members at the shop gave a piercing demonstration. About 20 pieces of body-piercing jewelry from Zebra were tested, and none was found to contain detectable levels of lead.

The state is going after jewelry manufacturers, distributors and retailers.

The new law is an expansion of another law that went into effect Sept. 1 barring lead in children’s jewelry. Children’s jewelry must have less than 1.5 percent lead, because those 6 and younger are more susceptible to lead poisoning.

While regulators such as Michael Berriesford, the supervising investigator with the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, said he knows of no adults who have been poisoned, the Environmental Protection Agency reports some tragedies in children.

A 4-year-old Minnesota child died in 2006 after swallowing a lead-laden jewelry charm, which prompted a recall of 300,000 charm bracelets. And in 2004, 150 million pieces of toy jewelry sold in vending machines were recalled because of lead.

Berriesford said that state testing of children’s jewelry since Sept. 1 found 18 percent to 20 percent was contaminated with high levels of lead. Given those numbers, he is assuming that adult jewelry is being sold with lead in it, too.

“Body-piercing jewelry may have lead in it; that’s why we’re here,” Berriesford said. “A lot of the industry has been aware of it for years (and not sold it), but there may be some outliers.”

Wickert Beasley of Intrinsic Precision Body Jewelry in San Francisco said that as long as consumers buy made-in-America body-piercing accessories, they should be safe.

“Domestically made jewelry is almost in every case made out of the best material, but there’s been a flood of jewelry from oversees where labor costs are just a fraction of what they are here,” and where standards are lower, he said.

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Weak dollar, investors to push gold prices higher

admin — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 09:46:41 +0000

New York – Two industry experts predicted gold prices would push past $1,100 an ounce in the coming year, fueled by a weak U.S. dollar and growing inflation fears.

GFMS Ltd. Research Director Philip Newman and Tim Dinneny, with metals trading and finance firm ScotiaMocatta, spoke on gold prices during The Plumb Club Forum, held Sunday and Monday in New York City.

George Milling-Stanley, manager of investment and market intelligence for the World Gold Council, moderated the panel.

Newman, whose company is a London-based independent precious-metals consultancy, said he expects a record level of gold investment in 2008, driven by ongoing problems in the U.S. economy.

The impact of the U.S. credit market crisis is “broad and ongoing,” he said.

Newman predicted gold would average $970 an ounce in 2008, hitting a high of $1,180 an ounce and dipping as low as $870 an ounce.

At the retail level, this could result in lighter gold pieces and a growing use of steel, silver and other materials in jewelry such as rubber, glass and wood.

Newman said all jewelry, including gold jewelry, faces increasing competition from products such as Apple’s iPod, cell phones, the travel and leisure sector, and heavily branded, high-priced clothing items such as handbags.

Dinneny said “the market is moving faster than we expected,” and predicted gold prices soon would hit $1,000 an ounce and would peak at $1,200 an ounce this year.

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5% Increase in Jewelry Exports from Israel in 2007

admin — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 11:02:50 +0000

Jewelry exports from Israel exceeded the $400 million level, reaching $410 million in 2007. This constitutes a 5% increase in comparison to 2006, when jewelry exports came to $390 million.Exports of non-embedded gold jewelry came to $176 million, constituting 43% of all jewelry exports. The export of jewelry embedded with diamonds and gemstones came to $154 million, constituting 37% of all jewelry exports. This constitutes a 17% increase in the export volume of embedded jewelry. Fashion jewelry exports came to $52 million and silver jewelry came to $28 million.

The main destinations for gold jewelry were the US, England, Russia, Hong Kong and Canada. The main target countries for embedded jewelry were the US, England,

Switzerland, Hong Kong, Belgium, Russia and Spain.

The main destinations for silver jewelry were the US, England, Canada, France and Switzerland. Fashion jewelry went most to the US, England, Japan, Canada, Australia, Italy and Spain.

The jewelry industry has been affected by the soaring gold prices over a prolonged period. The gold component as raw material in jewelry constitutes a high percentage, particularly in gold and embedded gold jewelry, which makes up 80% of the jewelry exports.

Sigal Shidlovsky, Director of the Jewelry Division in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, reports that the JOVELLA 2008 trade show will take place on July 1-3 at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds. This year, the show will be sponsored by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, the Israel Jewelry Manufacturers’ Association, the Israel Export Institute and the Israel Diamond Institute. The Exhibition is expected to be attended by buyers from overseas and trade media representatives who will be invited by the organizers and sponsors.

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Retailers to hold mine to higher gold standards

admin — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:04:35 +0000

Environmentalists want you to buy organic roses, and human rights groups tout conflict-free diamonds.

Now, just in time for Valentine’s Day, jewelry retailers are stepping up a campaign that aims to discourage the mining and sale of “dirty gold.”

A group of prominent jewelers including Tiffany & Co., Helzberg Diamonds and Fortunoff will announce today that it opposes the massive gold and copper Pebble Mine planned for Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed, site of the world’s largest sockeye salmon run.

The jewelers’ “Bristol Bay Protection Pledge” marks a new front in the “No Dirty Gold” initiative waged by environmental and human rights groups against destructive mining practices.

It is the first time that retailers, which have hitherto limited themselves to supporting general rules for mining, have joined in a campaign to halt a specific mine.

An estimated 80% of the gold used in the U.S. is for jewelry. And gold mines — typically huge open pit operations where tiny veins of metal are ground from millions of tons of rock — produce an average of 76 tons of waste per ounce of gold.

The resulting air and water pollution have made metals mining the leading contributor of toxic emissions in the U.S., according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

“There are places where mining does not represent the best use of resources,” Michael Kowalski, Tiffany’s chairman and chief executive, said in an e-mail. “In Bristol Bay, we support . . . the salmon fishery as the best bet for sustainable, long-term benefit. For Tiffany & Co., and we believe for many of our fellow retail jewelers, this means we will look to other places to source gold.”

Sean McGee, a spokesman for the Pebble Mine, said the jewelers had not contacted the mine’s developers, a partnership of Vancouver, Canada-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and London-based Anglo American.

“There is a lot of common ground between the Dirty Gold camp and the approach we are taking,” he said. “We support high environmental standards for mining. If the fisheries can’t be protected, we won’t advance the project.”

The campaign to clean up gold mines echoes the opposition to so-called blood diamonds, sold to finance conflicts in developing nations.

In the last few years, jewelers, working with nonprofit groups and the mining industry, set up a system to ensure diamonds as “conflict-free.” Now the “ethical jewelry” movement is preparing to expand with a certification program for gold and silver.

“It’s what’s happening in the marketplace,” said Stephen D’Esposito, president of Earthworks, a Washington-based advocacy group for mining reform. “Jewelers are highly sensitive to consumer concerns about the impact of the products they buy. It is a trend you see with food, coffee, wood, even sneakers.”

At the moment, retailers cannot tell where their gold has been mined. But in the coming year, D’Esposito said, jewelers will take the first steps to establish a chain of custody from mine to store.

A set of standards is under negotiation between mining companies, jewelry retailers and environmental and human rights groups.

So far, 28 companies, including eight of the 10 largest jewelry retailers in the U.S. have endorsed the “No Dirty Gold” campaign’s “Golden Rules.” The measures seek to ensure that gold is mined without threatening fragile ecosystems,that waste is not dumped into waterways and that workers’ rights are protected.

Signatories include Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Sterling Jewelers Inc., which markets Kay Jewelers and Jared the Galleria brands.

Earthworks wants all 28 companies that signed the Golden Rules pledge — and others — to also sign the Bristol Bay pledge. So far, only five have done so (besides Tiffany, Helzberg and Fortunoff, they are Ben Bridge Jeweler and Leber Jeweler Inc.).

Wal-Mart, the nation’s biggest jewelry retailer, is reviewing the measure.

“We are committed to sourcing gold and other metals produced under the highest social, human rights and environmental standards,”spokeswoman Linda Blakley said.

Worldwide shortages and skyrocketing prices for gold and copper are fueling the push for Pebble Mine, which holds an estimated $300 billion in gold, copper and molybdenum. Northern Dynasty executives say the mine will bring well-paying jobs to an impoverished area of rural Alaska.

If the mine, which lies on the edge of two national parks, gains the necessary permits from the state of Alaska, it would involve excavating as much as 12 billion tons of earth which, after extracting the ore, would fill 10 square miles of impoundments. Two dams would be built to hold the waste.

“These lands were selected by the state of Alaska for their mineral potential, an important part of the rural economy,” McGee said.

But Dan Consenstein, head of the Renewable Resources Coalition, an Alaska-based group that opposes the project, said pollution from the mine would destroy the fishery, a globally significant resource and economic backbone of the area.

A coalition of native villages, sports fishing lodges and environmental groups has filed a ballot initiative to stop the mine, but the mining companies are battling it in court.

margot.roosevelt

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Fashion and Design Industry Leaders Launch Coral Conservation Campaign

admin — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:02:49 +0000

Foundation and leading fashion and home designers unveiled their commitment to coral conservation today at the launch of Too Precious to Wear, a program of the ocean conservation organization SeaWeb. The fashion and design world have long looked to corals and the ocean as a source of inspiration and imagination, yet these beautiful animals and their habitat are increasingly in danger. Too Precious to Wear aims to raise awareness of corals and the threats to their survival, and show how the fashion and design industries, as well as consumers, can safeguard these imperiled marine species.

Despite their appearances, corals are neither rocks nor plants. Corals are living animals that provide marine species with food, fertile grounds for reproduction and a safe haven from predators. Unfortunately, corals are in serious trouble due to destructive fishing methods, climate change, pollution and removal from the sea for use in jewelry and decorative home objects.

Too Precious to Wear fashion leaders include Sylvie Chantecaille, owner and founder of Chantecaille Beaute; ready-to-wear and bridal designer Lela Rose, Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA)/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai of Vena Cava and home and lifestyle designer Michael Aram.

“Corals inspire me and many others with their beauty, and coral reefs support the livelihoods of millions around the world,” said Julia Louis-Dreyfus, founding partner of Too Precious to Wear. “These animals are integral to the health of the ocean, and it is up to each of us to make sure corals are protected. If we take good care of the ocean, the ocean will take care of us.”

Dawn M. Martin, president of SeaWeb, said, “Corals simply are too precious to wear. They belong in the ocean, where they contribute to the survival of thousands of other marine species. Consumers and the fashion industry can play an important role in the ocean’s recovery by simply choosing products that do not harm the ocean. Conscientious jewelers like Tiffany & Co. have already removed precious corals from their product lines, and we urge others to take the same action.”

Red and pink corals (commonly known as precious corals) are more often seen adorning the necks of beautiful women than in their natural ocean habitat. Red corals have been fished for more than 5,000 years in the Pacific and the Mediterranean, but in just the past two decades they have shown serious signs of decline. The United States, as the world’s largest documented consumer, has placed significant pressure on these threatened animals, importing more than 26 million pieces from 2001 to 2006. The American market is also responsible for 80 percent of the live coral taken from reefs (more than 400,000 pieces a year). Entire coral populations have been wiped out by destructive fishing gear such as trawls, which can mow down everything in their path. Recovery is not guaranteed and takes decades if it is able to occur.

Michael J. Kowalski, Chairman and CEO of Tiffany & Co., said, “We are committed to obtaining precious materials in ways that are socially and environmentally responsible. We decided to stop using real coral in our jewelry over six years ago and feel that there are much better alternatives that celebrate the beauty of the ocean.”

Sylvie Chantecaille of Chantecaille Beaute said, “As designers and innovators our customers look to us for ideas and information. When we are creating our products, we have an excellent opportunity to help preserve rather than harm our natural environment. If we are not careful, we may love precious corals to death. The impact would be much greater than losing an accessory or a design idea; we would lose a vital part of a healthy ocean. We urge others in the industry to help create a demand for coral conservation.”

Too Precious to Wear launches at the beginning of the 2008 International Year of the Reef, marking the first time that marine scientists and fashion industry elite have joined to raise awareness of the threats facing corals and coral reefs. Scientists say that 20 percent of the world’s coral reefs have already been destroyed, and that another 24 percent may be lost within our lifetimes if human impacts on corals are not reduced.

Dr. Andrew Baker, scientist and professor at the University of Miami said, “Corals around the world are in jeopardy, and urgent action is needed to stem their decline. With the fashion industry and scientist uniting, we have an opportunity to reduce consumer pressure on corals, and raise awareness of the global threats they face from climate change, overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution and disease.”

In addition to raising consumer and industry awareness of the need to protect corals, SeaWeb and its Too Precious to Wear program will seek stronger conservation policy for corals in the United States and abroad, by calling for increased monitoring of the global coral trade.

Artist and home designer Michael Aram said, “My Coral Reef Collection celebrates the serene blue waters of the ocean and its aquatic creatures without causing them harm. With Too Precious to Wear, we can help ensure the survival of coral by highlighting the many coral-inspired and ocean-friendly products available.”

Aram’s Coral Reef Collection is just one example of coral alternatives available to consumers who love the ocean. Pottery Barn, the nation’s leading home furnishings company, has a range of coral-inspired decorative objects for the home. A percentage of sales from Chantecaille’s Coral Compact supports the Pew Institute for Ocean Science’s Reefs of Hope project.

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