Last month, a little shockwave went through the world of diamond jewellery. This happened because of a statement from Pandora, the world’s biggest jeweller by volume. Pandora stated that it would start using only ‘man-made’ lab-grown diamonds in their new designs, stepping away from using mined diamonds. Alexander Lacik, Pandora CEO states: “To continue our ongoing and ambitious agenda of availability and sustainability, we are introducing Pandora Brilliance. It’s a new collection of beautifully designed jewellery featuring lab-created diamonds. It is important to remember that diamonds are not only forever, but also for everyone.”
Since only around 50 thousand pieces of Pandora hold diamonds, against 50+ million charms, the change in production is negligible for them. The indirect impact on the market however, will be much greater. This change will boost customer awareness of lab-grown diamonds like never before.
The new collection will not only be made with lab-grown diamonds. It will also be completely carbon neutral, with its own Carbon Neutral product certificate. This way Pandora does not only take an ethical step, but also an environmental one towards a sustainable future.
With this transition, Lacek and Pandora are playing on the long term approach of sustainability for the company. “We want to become a low-carbon business. I have four children, I’m leaving this earth one day. I hope I can leave it in a better shape than maybe what we’ve kind of created in the last 50 years or so.”