How Do You Decide Which Jewelry Sources are Ethical? Part 2

This is a follow up to my blog post from January 3rd

Wading through the pile of information on ethics and sustainability in jewelry can be intimidating.

Does it ever feel to you like others are operating with information that is either over your head, or speaking like their information is common knowledge? Me too! And I read and consume lots of news about ethics in the jewelry industry on a daily basis.

Narrowing down your sources

It isn’t magic, necessarily, though it does take a level of dedication to learn more about ethics in jewelry and to make changes when you learn new information – that “making changes” aspect is usually the hardest part for jewelry designers. The other hard part? Finding clear information that helps you make decisions.

I have set up ways to make consuming this kind of news easier, so that I actually do it and so that I stay as up to date as I can. But figuring out who has the best information, and what kinds of sources are understandable is important too. Let me walk you through all of the methods and sources that I use to stay informed:

• Have a Google Alert set up for a few key subjects. Mine are set up for “Sharon Z Jewelry” (to find out when I get famous, lol), “gold mines”, and “lab grown diamonds”. Yours could be “montana sapphire mine” or “ethical garnets” or any part of the process that you’d like to know more about.

• Follow various sources on Twitter

  • I like Pact, Hans Merket, Cristina Villegas and, oddly, JCK

    • Why oddly? JCK is an industry standard magazine. As such, I think that their worldview is not always relevant, nor do they pay as much attention to ethics as I would like, but they do compile a lot of stats and information about the industry at large

  • Not jewelry related, but I love following Slow Factory and Aja Barber for news on sustainable fashion and the intersectionality of race, class, gender and the impact of fast fashion. There are a lot of parallels between fashion and jewelry and both cover the subject in a way that is relatable and actionable.

• Join a webinar!

  • Christina Miller runs monthly webinars called the Living Room Sessions where you can learn so much from those directly impacted by our decisions. She regularly features speakers from mining communities, experts in ethics and more – there are so many members of the jewelry industry on those webinars that I always come away having learned something. You can even go back and watch older webinars!

• Join a discussion on Clubhouse

This is by no means a comprehensive list of sources, these are the ones that I use to keep informed and up to date. If you have questions about any of these sources, drop a comment below!