Our Earth-First and Fair-Trade Commitments – How Ours Compete with the Best in the World!

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Our Earth-First and Fair-Trade Commitments – How Ours Compete with the Best in the World!

We are a small, family-owned business. We’re not a high-volume business by typical commercial standards, though we are happy enough with it! We don’t have the resources to visit the mines from which our gold, platinum, palladium, diamonds, and colored gemstones come to ensure that employees are treated and paid well nor to examine the entire supply chain for consistent ethical practices. So how can we make commitments to ensure that we act on your fervent environmental concerns, especially for the most meaningful jewelry purchase of your lives: engagement and wedding rings?

In the early years of our business, one business principle was etched into our minds: Know your suppliers. This has served our company well since 1983, and it is more important than ever today.

When we had stores in California (Concord, Pleasanton, Capitola, and Cupertino variously from 1989 to 2005), we had about 100 suppliers. Today, with our business solely online and more focused, we use very few vendors. Every vendor we use for precious metals, precious stones, and semi-precious stones meet our criteria for:

1. An Earth-First Commitment and
2. Use of Fair Trade principles in the entire production process from mine to finished products.

And perhaps most importantly, our single diamond, gold, and platinum group metals supplier is a certified member of the Responsible Jewellry Council (RJC). RJC is an international body headquartered in London that certifies fine jewelry product vendors for responsible ethical, social, and environmental practices throughout their operations. Certification and membership require an independent third-party audit covering all aspects of operations from supply chain and production to business ethics and employee health and safety. Members must meet RJC’s Code of Practices which respects human rights throughout the jewelry supply chain for diamond, gold, and platinum group metals. RJC members commit to implementing continuous improvement processes to increase performance and achieve higher standards.

In fact, all of our gold and platinum group metals from our vendor are recycled, so in addition to the clean supply pipeline, you can be satisfied that your metals meet the very highest standards of environmental safety.

Our puzzle ring artist has been with our diamond and precious metal supplier since 1972, two years after their founding, and Crystal Realm has been with them since 2005. Why reinvent the wheel?

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