By Tracy Renning
Reviewed and Edited by Brett Stadelmann
In a world where fast fashion dominates, prioritizing environmental sustainability when making purchases has never been more important. And this includes jewelry.
As the demand for sustainable and environmentally friendly products soars, so too does the ever-present risk of greenwashing—a practice in which brands and businesses exaggerate their sustainability efforts and deceptively inflate the beneficial impacts that these efforts may have to trick customers into buying their wares.
If you’re searching for genuinely sustainable jewelry to invest in, it’s essential to know how to navigate tactics like greenwashing to support brands and initiatives that are honest, transparent, and sincere about their pieces and practices. This will also enable you to choose pieces without the hidden costs associated with mainstream jewelry manufacturing. These hidden costs can range from child labor and human trafficking to forced labor, dangerous pollution through mine dumping and leaching, and violation of land rights and the rights of indigenous groups.
Read on as we share the five red flags to look out for when buying sustainable jewelry and how to circumnavigate them to ensure that the pieces you buy are made and sourced responsibly.
1. Watch Out for Vague Promises and Claims
Arguably, the most important red flag to watch out for is jewelry brands that make vague, unsupported, or unverified claims about the sustainability of their offerings. Dozens of businesses claim to be ‘sustainable,’ ‘ethical,’ ‘fair trade,’ and ‘eco-friendly.’ However, not all of them can back up these assertions with actual evidence.
Truly sustainable jewelry brands avoid generic catch terms. Instead, they offer specific and verifiable information about their sourcing practices, materials, labor practices, and the environmental impacts of their operations and products.
The most reputable brands will also provide certifications from trusted organizations like the Responsible Jewelry Council (RJC) or the Fairmined Standard. These organizations use strict standards to verify brands’ sustainability practices and ensure they operate ethically.
Remember that a reputable jewelry brand will readily provide customers with comprehensive information about how it sources its materials, labor practices, and environmental impacts. Additionally, it will be transparent about the measures it’s taking to reduce or mitigate these impacts.
If a brand makes grand claims about eco-friendliness and sustainability but is evasive when evidencing these practices, reconsider purchasing from them.
2. Focusing Excessively on Recycled Materials
Sustainable jewelry is often made partly or fully with recycled materials, which is a respected and environmentally sound practice. However, many brands rely on using recycled materials alone and deem this practice sufficient to make them sustainable. Brands that rely completely on the use of recycled materials may be using this focus to obscure other, less sustainable practices, including the use of hazardous chemicals during the manufacturing process or unethical, poorly paid mining practices to source key materials.
Recycled gold has become hugely popular with brands that promote the sustainable angle. However, this gold is not necessarily as sustainable or ethical as it appears. Gold recycling doesn’t change the demand for mined gold, it doesn’t negate the possibility that the gold was previously mined under poor or illegal conditions, nor does it allow for any traceability fo origins. This lack of traceability cna lead to illegal mining practices, money laundering, and smuggling simply to enter this precious metal into the supply chain.
It’s clear recycling can be an important part of sustainability, but it cannot be the only practice in use.
Truly sustainable jewelry brands adopt responsible sourcing methods, environmental impact mitigation strategies, and ethical labor approaches to reduce their impacts throughout their supply chains.
Genuine brands will consider the full life cycle of their products and, if using recycled materials, go out of their way to ensure that they are sourced ethically. Even recycled materials can be sourced from conflict zones or questionable mining operations. The best brands will make it clear that they have purchased their materials from more scrupulous sources.
3. Poor or Absent Traceability
One of the trademark features of truly sustainable jewelry is a high degree of traceability. This refers to a customer’s ability to trace each product’s journey from its origins – think mines, recycling plants and communities – to their homes.
Reputable brands provide excellent transparency about every level of their supply chains, allowing customers to trace their jewelry pieces back to their origins. Brands that cannot provide clear and accurate information about where their raw materials come from and how they are processed may not be genuinely invested in sustainable practices.
If you encounter a brand you’d like to support but are unsure of its products’ traceability or sources, don’t hesitate to contact customer support and ask questions about the business’s labor and mining practices and material origins. Brands worth supporting will reach out to you in good time with all the information you need to make an informed choice. Trustworthy companies can also provide traceability certifications from organizations like Fairmined and Fair Trade.
4. Heavy Use of ‘Carbon Neutral’ Terminology
Carbon-neutral operations are certainly sustainable in some circumstances. However, many brands today use carbon-neutrality terminology as another form of greenwashing. If a brand constantly reinforces carbon neutrality but does not mention its traceability, certification, labor practices, or material sourcing, it may rely on carbon-neutral terminology to hide other potentially harmful practices.
Carbon neutrality should not be the only measure of a jewelry brand’s sustainability but it can form a valuable part of a broader strategy.
Ideally, you should seek out brands reaching beyond carbon neutrality. Look for those tackling important issues like community impacts, responsible sourcing, proper waste management, and water and energy conservation practices. When paired with carbon offsetting, these practices can reduce a brand’s environmental impacts from every angle while displaying their commitment to carbon emission reduction and pertinent social and environmental issues.
5. Surprisingly Low Pricing on ‘Sustainable’ Pieces
Sustainable jewelry pieces require careful material sourcing, ethical labor practices, and environmentally conscious operations to be created. All these practices come at a higher cost than those associated with unethical operations.
So, it’s reasonable to expect sustainable pieces to cost more. If a brand’s prices are surprisingly low, it may be cutting corners on its sustainability operations to keep its costs low on the consumers’ end.
It’s important to view sustainable jewelry as a long-term investment into a better future, improved working conditions, better pay for people, and a healthier future for the planet and its inhabitants.
Truly sustainable brands will have higher prices as they support ethical practices and pay their workers fair wages. Their jewelry is often crafted by hand and made with exceptional quality materials, too.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
More Tips for Finding Genuine Sustainable Jewelry
Do your research: When looking for sustainable jewelry, the first step is to commit to extensive research before making any purchases.
Search for sustainable brands online or ask for recommendations from people you trust. Then conduct research into each brand’s sustainability practices, including their sourcing, mining, labor, and environmental practices. Remember to check their websites for third-party certifications and read customer reviews to learn as much as possible about their practices and ethics. Reputable brands will have this information clearly displayed on their websites, along with customer service contact details, should you have any further questions.
Ask questions: If you need more information after reading a brand’s website content, contact their support team and ask any questions you deem relevant. Trustworthy brands will get back to you with clear, consistent, and verifiable information. You can also ask for proof of any claims they make to ensure they are as sustainable as they claim to be.
Support small businesses & community projects: Small businesses and independent jewelry suppliers are great choices if you are looking for sustainable jewelry suppliers to support. Of course, it’s vital to check their sustainability and ethical credentials before choosing to support them, But by supporting small business owners, you will support the development of artisanal skills and give money to families who will certainly be grateful for your consideration and patronage.
Some social upliftment projects also support communities in need by teaching them the skill of jewelry making, offering another ethical way of purchasing jewelry while supporting initiatives that make a difference.
Buy timeless pieces: Once you find trusted brands, it’s also recommended that you choose durable and timeless jewelry pieces that will serve you for many years to come. Pieces that will go out of style in a year or two are more likely to be passed on to a local charity store or end up in a landfill. Timeless pieces will become a cherished part of your wardrobe and may even be passed down to future generations as heirlooms.
Invest in second-hand, vintage, or preloved pieces: If you’re in the market for the most sustainable jewelry pieces possible, consider second-hand jewelry as an option. Opting for pre-loved jewelry effectively reduces your impact, prevents pieces from reaching the landfill, and finds unique adornments with colorful histories and distinctive vintage charm.
Make Sustainability Part Of Your Wardrobe
Whether it’s a bracelet, necklace, pair of earrings, or a belly or nose ring, how we decorate our bodies has always held an abundance of symbolism. Wearing sustainable jewelry is a fantastic way to add to this symbolism while enhancing your wardrobe, expressing your style, and displaying your commitment to social and environmental justice.
By committing to being a conscious customer and watching out for red flags, you can make more informed choices and support jewelry brands dedicated to respectable and eco-friendly practices. This way, you can ensure that you feel good about your attire, your choices, and the impact you have on the natural world and the communities within it.