ETHICS

The Emily Chelsea Jewelry team believes that part of being an ethical business is not to disguise information or keep secrets. We aren’t just in it for ourselves; we strive to create a better jewelry industry along with our close knit community of other ethical jewelers. By publishing as much information as we can on our website, we can provide a helpful resource not only for our clients but also fellow jewelers.

We feel that the quality of life of people throughout our supply chain is more important than a pretty gem, so if we cannot source something responsibly, we won't. While this wasn't always the case, the more research we did, the more disheartened we became. If you knew the dirty details of mining, trading and cutting, we know that you would feel the same way too. Our hope is that by sharing our sources and suppliers, we will be able to add another layer of transparency and accountability as we all work toward a more responsible jewelry industry.

Our commitment to responsible practices includes, but is not limited to:

• Assessing and responding to human rights risks throughout the supply chain, from mining and trading to cutting, polishing and selling.

• Use independent third party auditing whenever possible.* By doing this, we lower the risk of sourcing based solely on hearsay or spoken claims. Third party auditing legitimizes claims made by Emily Chelsea Jewelry and the suppliers we work with.

• Publish the names of our gold, gemstone and diamond suppliers.

• Maintain an ethical price point. We will not inflate or deeply discount prices based on demand and competition but rather ask for a fair price for each piece of jewelry. Our pricing structure takes all aspects into account, including cost of materials, labor and services including 3D printing, casting and setting, as well as a reasonable profit to maintain sustainability for the business and the jewelry industry as a whole.

• Incorporate a robust transparent supply chain policy between Emily Chelsea Jewelry and each supplier.

• Use eco-friendly studio practices to reduce our impact on the environment- this includes using non-toxic chemicals, recycling scrap and dust from the work bench and equipment and repurposing packaging and mailing materials. 

• To go beyond “conflict free.” ECJ does not use diamonds only labeled “conflict free” as this label does not insure that diamonds are actually free of conflict. For this reason, we only use recycled/repurposed diamonds or lab grown diamonds as requested. To read more about the conflict free issue, click here.

• Maintain a commitment to transparency. Being committed to transparency involves showing what comes from a reliable and vetted source and what comes from an unknown source. Not all materials have traceable origins and we will be honest what can and cannot be done. Part of being transparent is in the process. Keep asking questions and please support us as we press on- pursuing more environmental and ethical sources in the jewelry industry.

A Note on “Ethical” Claims and “Greenwashing”

With the growing trend of claiming that jewelry is "ethically sourced," "responsibly sourced" or "sustainably sourced" the true meaning of these terms has become a bit fuzzy. Once bold claims to ensure responsible practices with respect to the environment and human kind, they are now frequently used as a marketing strategy, otherwise known as “Greenwashing,” to appeal to conscious consumers. Currently, there is no way to monitor who can use these claims and no set of standards to determine what exactly they mean.

That is a major part of why I (Emily) was involved in The Jewelry Glossary Project since its inception and have adopted the definitions into our own practices.

*Always question anyone when they use the term “whenever possible.” In our case, we currently only work with 3 materials that are able to be third party audited.*

our SUPPLIERS