Priced Out!
Rough Cut's just-dropped episode tackles the pressing question "Why is fine jewelry so expensive these days?" + jewelry and links from the episode
New Episode: Why is Jewelry Suddenly So ’Spensive?
With inflation and wage stagnation making it difficult to keep money our wallets these days, we broached a topic in our latest episode that’s been nagging at us, as both jewelry people and whiny consumers: Why are fine jewelry prices so suddenly exorbitantly high? We’re talking $1,200-for-14k-gold-huggie-earrings high. We know the price of gold is at an all-time high; that reason we can at least wrap our heads around. But what else is driving prices up? We asked some of our favorite jewelry designers that very question, and subsequently had our minds opened to the not-easy realities of doing business in the jewelry industry in 2024. Hope you enjoy this one! Listen to it here…
On Spotify
On Apple
Jewelry We Mentioned in the “Priced Out” Episode
Los Angeles brands Kinn Studio and Grace Lee were part of our convo on why West Coast brands tend to be cheaper than NYC brands. Both SoCal brands are fabulous and fairly priced!
Emili’s homemade brooch from the top of the episode:
Women We Mentioned Who Own and Run Inspirational Jewelry Businesses
Liz Kantner, Stay Gold Collective
Laryssa Wirstiuk, Joy Joya Marketing
Loving that brooch! The world needs more like it. This episode was fantastic--gold has been skyrocketing over the past two years, in part thanks to Costco selling bars under market price and because the finance bros are telling everyone to invest in gold during the unease of this election season. They screw it up for everyone! Also, keep in mind that electronics use a good amount of gold.
Having said all of that, I have always been amazed at the variety of pricing in jewelry. Some artists you can look at and say "That's a supply and demand price," as in they are so hot they can price high. Others just have really good production lined up and can keep costs reasonable through this. It's not just gold, too--I've seen a number of silver artists pricing their work astronomically high for silver, and just chalk it up to them either living in NYC, or being in super high demand. I
t is such a multi-faceted issue to try to weed out. When I worked in retail not so long ago, I did A LOT of educating customers on the price of metal because so many people just assume gold is still at the price it was 20 years ago (if only!) I always tell people, No, this is the current price of gold, and that's IN THE GROUND. Before it's even been touched. You add all the mining and manufacturing on top of that, and then you start to see the real price. And if we're honest, I'm sure a lot of artists were waiting things out before updating their prices, thinking it would stabilize or come back down.