Lab Grown Diamonds have become so popular with consumers that some couples ask jewelers to exchange the natural diamond on their rings for a lab-created flare.
“Just last week we had three or four couples who have been married for a few years come to us about upgrading the diamond in the engagement ring,” said Joel Klein, CEO of New York-based Ritani, a retailer in line of diamonds and fine diamonds. jewelry, including engagement rings.
Each couple wanted to replace the natural diamond in her rings with something bigger, opting for a lab-created diamond, she said.
“It’s not that we’re seeing a decline in the natural diamond business, but the growth in demand for lab diamonds is very strong,” Klein said.
Ritani, which handled more than 20,000 engagement ring orders last year, deals in natural and lab-grown diamonds. The company maintains an inventory of more than 300,000 diamonds for sale, a third of them laboratory diamonds. Jewelry made with lab-grown diamonds currently accounts for more than 50% of Ritani’s sales, Klein said.
Several factors are driving the growing demand for man-made diamonds, industry experts say.
Man-made diamonds look exactly the same as natural ones, the only difference is the price. Lab diamonds cost significantly less for a much larger stone than a mined diamond of the same size, and they appeal to ethical and ecological sensibilities, particularly of Millennials and Gen Zers.
Juliet Gomes, Ritani’s customer service manager, recently helped couples upgrade to a larger diamond lab. “If the original ring had a one-carat natural diamond, they now replace it with a three- or four-carat lab option for the same price or less than the one-carat original,” she said.
Ritani offers its customers the option of exchanging their natural gem for a credit towards the upgraded stone. While some choose to trade in their natural diamond for a lab-created one, others turn their original stone into another piece of jewelry, such as a pendant, Klein said.
Lindsay Reinsmith, co-founder of San Francisco-based lab diamond jewelry Ada Diamonds, said she, too, frequently sees clients who are upgrading their rings from a mined diamond to a lab diamond.
“Not only is this a common occurrence, but we’re also seeing a significant increase in clients coming to us for a lab-grown diamond who are getting married a second time,” he said. “They may have had a diamond mined for their first marriage, but opt for lab grown for their second.”
Not all clients who upgrade focus only on upgrading to a larger stone. “They’re also looking at the quality of the lab diamond and they want it to have some element of sophistication,” Reinsmith said.
First-time engagement ring buyers are also showing a strong preference for lab-grown stones.
Data for July showed that the number of engagement rings sold that featured a manufactured diamond increased 52% compared to last year. Meanwhile, the number of engagement rings sold with a natural diamond dropped 28% in the same period.
“Consumers want to maximize their budget, they want to spend as much and get a bigger diamond with better color and clarity,” said Edahn Golan, industry analyst and founder of Edahn Golan Diamond Research & Data.
The average total carat weight of a lab-grown diamond for an engagement ring in the US is 1.42 carats, priced at around US$3,800. That compares with an average total carat weight of .081 carats for a natural diamond, priced at around $4,209, Golan said.
“It’s a significant difference in size that’s visible to the naked eye and for a lower price,” he said.
As further evidence demonstrating the acceptance of artificial diamonds, Pandora, the world’s largest jewelry brand, announced Tuesday that it would launch lab-created diamond jewelry in the US and Canada on August 25.
His 33-piece collection, called Pandora Brilliance, includes rings, bracelets, necklaces and earrings with a lab-created solitaire diamond set in sterling silver, 14k yellow gold or 14k white gold.
“Laboratory created diamonds are just as beautiful as mined diamonds, but they are available to more people and with fewer carbon emissions. We are proud to expand the diamond market and offer innovative jewelry that sets a new standard for how the industry can reduce its impact on the planet,” Pandora CEO Alexander Lacik said in a statement.
The CNN Wire
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