Articles and News
Industry News: DEF To Honor Light; Sustainability Summit Starts; Zimbabwe Seizes Diamond Mines; More March 08, 2016 (0 comments)
Nate Light To Be Honored By Diamond Empowerment Fund In Las Vegas
New York, NY—The Diamond Empowerment Fund (D.E.F) will present its first ever “Diamonds Do Good” Lifetime Achievement Award to Nathan R. “Nate” Light (left), former chief executive officer of Sterling Jewelers Inc., at its “Diamonds Do Good” Awards gala in Las Vegas, June 2 at the Four Seasons Ballroom.
D.E.F’s “Diamonds Do Good” Lifetime Achievement Award will be an annual award which reflects the body of work of an individual who has promoted the importance of developing social purpose programs and charitable giving to help communities where the diamond industry does business. Light, who built an immensely successful business, epitomizes this ideal.
One of the diamond and jewelry industry’s most renowned philanthropists, Light was active beginning in the 1980s with the Foundation Fighting Blindness and then helped organize the industry’s “Party With a Purpose” at JCK Las Vegas in 1994, where today’s Jewelers For Children (JFC) “Facets of Hope” Gala has its roots. Light helped galvanize giving around industry charities, and because of his early efforts, today, more than $48 million has been raised by the industry for JFC to benefit children in need around the world.
Nate Light joined Sterling Jewelers Inc. in 1977 and helped grow the company from a modest chain of 32 stores to a national powerhouse retailer with more than 1,000 stores, 14,000 employees, and annual revenues of nearly $1 billion. Sterling, a unit of Signet Jewelers Ltd., led by chief executive officer Mark Light, continues the tradition of philanthropy through its support of Jewelers For Children, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Akron Children's Hospital, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and the Diamond Empowerment Fund, where signet chief operating officer Ed Hrabak serves as vice president of the board of directors.
For more information and to purchase tickets/sponsorships, click here.
Zimbabwe Government Seizes Control of Diamond Mines
Marange Fields, Zimbabwe—Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, citing a lack of benefit to citizens in mining communities there, last week announced his government has taken control of all diamond mining operations in that country.
The move impacts mainly Chinese mining companies, as the primary suppliers to the U.S. market—De Beers and Rio Tinto—have both exited the country.
Diamonds from the Marange fields were a bone of contention in the international diamond industry for many years. While Marange didn’t specifically fall under the Kimberley Process definition of conflict diamonds—those being used by rebel groups to fund the overthrow of legitimate government—reports of human rights abuses in the fields and a lack of transparency in the operations there caused the international diamond community to ban those diamonds from the legitimate trade until conditions improved. In 2012, the ban was lifted after Zimbabwe demonstrated that conditions in the fields had improved to meet global standards, but since then production has fallen off sharply as the easy parts of the mines are tapped out and costs are soaring to go deep underground.
Read more here, here, and here.
Joan Rivers’ Jewelry Goes Up For Auction
New York, NY—Joan Rivers loved her jewelry, almost as much as she loved ripping up on the red carpet. The actress and comedian made several speaking appearances in the jewelry industry and also designed a line of costume jewelry that was sold on QVC, where she was a popular guest until she died unexpectedly following outpatient surgery. Her massive collection of jewelry will be auctioned off in June at Christie’s, with proceeds going to benefit God’s Love We Deliver and Guide Dogs For The Blind, two favorite charities of Rivers and her daughter, Melissa. A live auction of 200 lots will be held June 22 in New York and an online auction of 60 lots will be held June 16-23.
Funnywoman, jewelry lover and jewelry designer Joan Rivers.
New York Joins Growing Movement To Ban Criminal History From Job Apps
New York, NY—The New York City Commission on Human Rights issued proposed rules for the Fair Chance Act to clarify its implementation. The Fair Chance Act, in effect since October 2015, prohibits New York City employers from asking questions pertaining to an applicant’s criminal background until a conditional offer of employment has been made.
After a conditional offer of employment has been made, an employer may ask an applicant about his or her criminal history or may perform a background check, as long as notice requirements are met. (Exemptions are made for positions where criminal background checks are required by law.)
Nationwide, states and cities are increasingly enacting “ban the box” laws to ensure that job applicants will be considered on their skills and experience before having to reveal a criminal history. At the federal level, in 2012 the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) advised employers to remove conviction questions from job applications.
Given these new laws, employers should review their employee screening procedures to make sure they are in compliance. They should also continue to make use of available screening tools that are legal, such as close reviews of resumes and references, and online searches.
To comment on the proposed New York City rules, log onto http://rules.cityofnewyork.us/ or email comments to policy@cchr.nyc.gov.
Information Sharing, Police Work Continue To Drive Down Jewelry Crime
New York, NY—Crimes against the jewelry industry last year decreased 14.7% and dollar losses decreased 10.9%, according to the Jewelers’ Security Alliance. In its just-released 2015 Annual Crime Report, JSA says the total number of crimes against the industry went from 1,381 in 2014 to 1,177 in 2015 and dollar losses decreased from $77.8 million in 2014 to $69.3 million in 2015.
Other highlights from the Report:
1. Due to excellent work by the FBI and local law enforcement agencies, there were arrests of two major smash and grab robbery gangs in the first half of 2015. As a result of these arrests, there were half as many smash and grab robberies in the second half of 2015 (24) as in the first half of 2015 (48). For the full year 2015, smash and grab robberies were down to 72 from 110 in 2014.
2. Again due to excellent work by the FBI and local law enforcement agencies, there was an arrest of a major rooftop burglary gang. As a result of the arrest of this gang, the number of burglaries in which the criminals entered from the roof decreased from 36 in 2014 to 19 in 2015, a decrease of 47.2%.
3. Two jewelers were killed in crimes last year, down from three in 2014. The number of jewelers who were the victims of nonfatal shots declined from 15 in 2014 to 3 in 2015, an 80% decline.
4. The long term decline in dollar losses from crimes against jewelry firms in the U.S. has amounted to a 63.2% decline since 1998 in 2015 inflation adjusted dollars, and a 22.5% decline in the last five years.
JSA President John Kennedy said, “While the diamond, jewelry and watch industry is still a dangerous business, the long term trend in jewelry crime is still firmly down. The significant decline that JSA has seen in crime is due to the greater sharing of crime information within the industry and with law enforcement, and from the terrific cooperation that the industry receives from the FBI and local law enforcement agencies.”
Visit the JSA website to view the full report.
Jewelry Industry Summit Sold Out
New York, NY—The Jewelry Industry Summit, the open forum on sustainability and responsible sourcing, has sold out, announced the organizers. The forum is taking place at the Fashion Institute of Technology beginning Friday, March 11 through March 13, with an opening reception on the evening of March 10.
The Summit is an interactive, working meeting, with large and small discussion groups assisted by professional facilitators. But conference planners have invited a few speakers to help the group gain insight on what constitutes a responsible sourcing program at the current time. They are (in alphabetical order): Anna Bario, co-owner, Bario-Neal; Andrew Bone, executive director, Responsible Jewellery Council; David Bouffard, vice president of corporate affairs, Signet Jewelers; Eric Braunwart, owner, Columbia Gem House, Lynsey Cesca Jones, director for responsible sourcing, VF Corp.; Eduardo Escobedo, executive director, Responsible Ecosystems Sourcing Platform; Dorothée Gizenga, executive director, Diamond Development Initiative (DDI) ; Stewart Grice, director of mill and refining, Hoover & Strong; Maria Gorsuch-Kennedy, principle program manager, supply chain sustainability, EMC Corp.; Erik Jens, global head, diamond & jewellery clients, ABN AMRO; Jamie McGlinchey, design and development manager, Melissa Joy Manning; Marcelo Ribeiro, director, Belmont Emeralds; and Margo Sfeir, marketing director, ELEVATE.
Poster sessions for the three-day event include contributions from the following organizations and companies (in alphabetical order): Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM), Columbia Gem House, the Diamond Development Initiative (DDI), the Diamond Empowerment Fund (DEF), ELEVATE, Ethical Metalsmiths, Martello Risk, The Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development, Responsible Jewellery Council, Signet Jewelers, Source Intelligence, True North Gems, Underwriters Laboratories, United States Council for International Business, United States Wildlife Trafficking Alliance.
Jewelry industry members who not attending the Summit can follow the proceedings via the Summit's Facebook page, where there will be live updates.
Roberta Naas Joins Haute Time
New York, NY—Haute Time has named longtime watch industry expert Roberta Naas to head its editorial for the U.S. markets. Naas has played a key role in building and contributing watch and jewelry coverage for noteworthy publications over the past few decades including Forbes, Robb Report, Departures, The New York Times (Watch Your Times), and more. She also runs her own site, ATimelyPerspective.com. She is tasked with bringing Haute Time to an even greater level with a new creative direction and inventive ideas going forward.