Diamonds are forever. But will shoppers favor lab-grown brands?

Natural, mined gem prices have collapsed 5.9% this year alone and are expected to slump an additional 15% to 20% over the next year.

I am not just a magpie but also a gemologist, and I call lab-grown diamonds evil twins only in jest. It is well documented that ‘Diamonds are Forever’ was popularized and substantially impacted NW. Ayer & Son in 1947.

It had a substantial impact on culture then and now – we still expect a diamond engagement ring. But there’s more to a catchphrase here. The alignment and bonding of the carbon atoms in a diamond make it less vulnerable than other stones, which is reflected in its ranking of 10 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness – the highest level - so they really are forever (unless another diamond has something to do with it).

That’s why you don’t see as many emerald engagement rings, which are softer gemstones at a 7.5-8 rating on the same scale. Other stones, such as sapphires and rubies, also rate highly on the Mohs scale, even if Princess Diana famously endorsed sapphires.

Diamonds’ cubic crystal structure (referring to how the atoms are arranged) gives them a higher refractive index and is, in great part, what makes them dazzle. But they have recently lost their sparkle. A steady, global decrease in marriages, an ongoing cost of living crisis, and technological advances in the industry have left diamonds in the rough.

Enter the lab-grown diamond

Lab-grown diamonds are a brilliant marketing case study, much like their predecessors. Popularized by Pandora with solid messaging around their green credentials, gorgeous sparkle and even more gorgeous price point, lab-grown diamonds have the same chemical and physical properties as naturally mined diamonds. They’re so convincing that even industry professionals cannot tell them apart with the naked eye – on grading, lab-grown diamonds now have an “LG” inscription on the girdle of the stone.

Diamond mining is fraught with human rights and ecological issues. Over the last two decades, the industry has implemented various processes and blockchain technology to illuminate where stones are mined, changed hands, or crossed borders.

You would be forgiven for thinking that lab-grown gems are exempt from such scrutiny and are undisputably a sustainable alternative to mined materials. But lab-grown diamonds do, in fact, cost the earth, as they require a huge amount of energy to create – a 2019 Trucost report found that, on average, greenhouse gas emissions are three times greater for lab-grown diamonds than their mined counterparts. But that messaging hasn’t quite stuck–as far as consumers are concerned, it’s a greener option.

Values over vows

The traditional diamond industry has shied away from the mass market. It could seem as though the industry has been resting on its laurels, but what many fine jewelry houses find is that a smaller proportion of their clientele continues to make up a larger proportion of sales. High jewellery collections may never grace the pages of glossy magazines and instead are exclusively exhibited and sold behind closed doors.

Diamonds, for now, remain a luxury item. And luxury marketing is still so centered on how wearing an item is going to make you feel – even if only briefly. This is true across perfume to high-end bag adverts. But younger consumers are more conscientious and quickly see past this veneer that has until now stood the test of time. They are less concerned with how something makes them feel –it’s about what it makes them and others watching think. The luxury market has been slow to understand the renewed role of authenticity (the irony here is not lost on me) in marketing and that what consumers find aspirational is changing. And diamonds are exemplary of this.

Never before have brands the world over been able to tap into so many marketing channels, including those that allow for two-way interaction with their customers online. It’s not the one-way street that it used to be. If customers are shifting away, find where they are and engage with them on their terms and their turf. There’s a mentality shift here that many brands in the industry are still catching up to.

Back to shiny things. As mentioned, lab-grown diamonds are a great case study for greener messaging, even if there’s more work to do to make this a wholly sustainable alternative. In response, I would love to see the fine jewelry industry take part in the circular conversation. We are mining an estimated 90m carats of rough diamond material every year. Why not embrace the circular market where the ‘heirlooms’ created by this industry are given a new lease of life instead?

Patek Philippe’s Generations ad is halfway there in spirit – and has featured the same strapline since its launch in 1996: ‘You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation’. With birthrates on the decline too, we can see how this conceptually carries over into a time where consumer attitude to ownership is changing.

Looking at a different category entirely, various ready-to-wear powerhouses have already incorporated circular offerings into their proposition. The OUTNET has elevated a ‘considered’ category on its website where customers can explore the circular services on offer.

Commercially, I accept it’d be easy to poke holes at this. But that’s exactly where the power of marketing comes in. The fine jewelry industry, and specifically the diamond trade, created the buzz around diamonds for lab-grown proponents to jump into. Now, if done with sensitivity to modern-day values, it has an opportunity to take some of the buzz back for itself and dazzle again.

Juliette Aiken is a certified gemmologist (FGA) and CMO of Dotdigital