Designer’s Diary: Designing with millennials in mind

Ah, millennials. We love to lambast them for their laziness, entitlement and narcissism. After all this is a generation that’s staggeringly unemployed, yet this doesn’t seem weigh on their minds enough to distract them from taking selfies on Instagram all day. Or so the stereotype goes.

But there’s more substance to this generation than the jewelry industry is currently aware of--much less catering to--and it’s time we start paying attention, rather than write them off as too young and broke to be a viable market.

As a generation, millennials are probably the most principled when it comes to their spending. They like luxury goods just as much as boomers but, unlike their forbearers, they care about where their goods come from. They want to know in what type of working conditions their clothes and shoes were made and how the workers were treated.

Think about American Apparel, which started as a young brand for young people. Sure, racy advertising campaigns and an adult aesthetic was part of the brand’s almost-instant popularity, but its ethos was built on the fact that the clothes are made in America, Los Angeles specifically, the transparency of their operations, worker compensation and factory conditions.

That awareness and conscience-driven decision making is what informs millennial big-ticket spending. Sure, they want a shiny new car, even if they go into debt to get it, but they want it to be a hybrid so they feel they’re doing their part to protect the environment.

As an independent jewelry designer, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I can incorporate these kinds of values into my collections. It’s not easy, because we just haven’t fully adapted these principles in the industry.

The Kimberley Process ensures diamonds only come from countries where proceeds from the goods are not outright fueling rebellions against legitimate governments. This is a good start, but it doesn’t address an equally important part of the process--the working conditions within those mines or how those workers are compensated.

Also, all rough diamonds coming in and out of the United States must adhere to the Kimberley Process, but melee diamonds are a part of the story where the lines get a bit more blurry. Many diamonds under 1 carat do not have a GIA report, which makes them more difficult to track and easier to cross borders. Diamonds are big money. Regulations are reluctant and slow.