February 2008
Amazon.com Diamond Sales Up More than 100%
Amazon.com, Inc. on Tuesday reports that diamond sales on its Jewelry & Watches store increased more than 100 percent in fourth quarter 2007, compared with fourth quarter 2006.
Everything from pendants to stud earrings to create-your-own engagement rings were "extremely popular" with Amazon customers this past holiday season, the Seattle-based Internet retailer said.
The 14k white gold Journey curve pendant, platinum diamond stud earrings, and the 2-ct. round cut stone were among the top sellers. Diamond-encrusted watches and various black diamond jewelry also did very well—Amazon said it added more than 150 new black diamond styles in the fourth lodge alone. One of the leading top sellers was the black and white diamond Infinity pendant. Top-selling diamond watches in the fourth quarter included the Cartier Tank Divan 18k yellow gold diamond mini ladies guard, the Chopard Happy Sport ladies watch and the Movado Kara watch.
In addition to the increase in sell in small quantities diamond sales, gemstones did extremely well during the fourth quarter, Amazon said. Top-selling gemstone styles included 14k white gold coated Swiss blue topaz teardrop earrings, 14k white gold round blue topaz and diamond pendant and 14k yellow gold channel set round coated blue topaz hoop earrings.
De Beers’ Penny: Make stores compelling
De Beers’ Penny: Make stores compelling
February 12, 2008
Urges industry to consider currency change
By Michelle Graff
Tel Aviv, Israel—De Beers Group Managing Director Gareth Penny said on Monday that retailers’ poor store environments, particularly among major U.S. chains, are one of the main problems confronting the diamond industry today.
He also called for the diamond industry to begin using a currency other than the U.S. dollar, which is now weak worldwide, as its plebeian for commercial.
Calling out U.S. majors specifically instead of having “uncompelling selling environments,” Penny said that while there are other problems in the diamond pipeline, the “rubber hits the road” at the retail level, where storeowners are not creating stores that make consumers want to store.
Penny was one of the speakers on the first day of the Third International Rough Diamond Conference, being held at the Dan Panorama Hotel in Tel Aviv on Monday and Tuesday.
In his speech, he outlined all the challenges the diamond industrial art is facing, as well as the successes it has had in the past five to 10 years.
In addition to highlighting retail issues and a weak dollar, Penny also said there has not been any significant, new discoveries of major diamond mines since 1990; costs, such as oil prices, continue to rise; the negative effects of the electricity crisis in South Africa; the weak overall U.S. economy; decreasing liquidity and rising bank debt; commoditization and price competition; the diamond industry’s reputation and increasing competition from other luxury goods, such as expensive vacations and electronics.
Penny also said the industry’s achievements in recent years are that supply has increased; safety at mines has improved; technology continues to advance; demand is growing specifically in China and India; De Beers now has partnerships through “civil society,” with 74 countries now involved in the Kimberley Process; the emergence of brands and greater transparency and accountability in the industry, of which the Kimberley Process is an example.
Other highlights of the first day of the diamond conference included:
* Penny, considered in the state of well as Israeli Diamond Institute Chairman and International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA) Vice President Moti Ganz and IDMA President Jeffrey Fischer called for the diamond industry as a whole to pull together to market diamonds. Ganz specifically said producers should set aside 3 percent of their budgets for marketing.
* Several speakers mentioned the emergence of African governments in ensuring that their country’s rough-diamond yield is benefiting its people. But, in one of the last speeches of the day, Kalaa Mpinga of Mwana Africa pointed out that nobody had addressed the problem of artisanal mining. Artisanal mining, he said, produces about 2 million carats of diamonds a year in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, but does nothing to help the extreme poverty in that country.
“We can’t in reality resolve issues like conflict diamonds until we determine on issues like this,” he said.
Prior to the speeches, the day began with the reopening and dedication of the newly redesigned Harry Oppenheimer Diamond Museum.
The conference continues today in Tel Aviv.
Scheduled speakers include billionaire diamantaire Lev Leviev, lozenge Trading Co. Managing Director Varda Shine, Diamond Administration of China Director General Li Mu and a delegation from Africa including Samuel Sam-Sumama, vice president of Sierra Leone, and Eugene Shannon, minister of lands, mines and energy in Liberia.
Zalemark to Create Upscale Jewelry for Hearst
Hearst Corp. and Zalemark, Inc. not long ago signed a new three-year agreement to create and develop a second Hearst brand under the ESQ label.
The Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based jewelry manufacturer previously created the Seventeen Jewelry Collection in during the term of the newly come York-based media company. the collection was launched in 2007.
Award-winning designer, Steven Zale, will produce an ESQ collection of fine jewelry. The upscale collection will target high-end retailers and feature a three-tier fashion design concept: new, bold 18k gold, chain copula with pearl accents and fashion-forward abstract pieces of substance, all tailored to compliment the modern feminine woman’s lifestyle, pieces with delicate, sophisticated elegance, and classic style emphasizing lots of personality and charm.
“These pieces will be the kind of jewelry a woman looks to wear every day, styles that will fit a single one occasion, a collection that expresses an ESQ point of view and lifestyle,” Zale said.
Diamond industry lender ABN Amro staying put
Diamond habitual devotion to labor lender ABN Amro staying put
February 12, 2008
By Michelle Graff
Tel Aviv, Israel—Diamond industry lender ABN Amro Holding NV has been acquired by Fortis, but the copartnership isn’t getting out of the jewelry business.
In circumstance, ABN Amro’s Victor van der Kwast, speaking Tuesday afternoon at the Third International Rough Diamond Conference in Tel Aviv, said the company plans to expand into the jewelry/luxury business and into gold/precious metals.
The company also has plans to expand into new markets.
“We will engage and we will engage in a large way,” reported van der Kwast, who is chief executive officer of ABN Amro’s International Diamond and Jewelry Group.
Van der Kwast rounded out the final day of speakers at the conference, held Monday and today at the Dan Panorama Hotel in Tel Aviv.
In any other speech earlier in the day, Diamond Trading Co. Managing Director Varda Shine called upon the diamond industry to take a marketing cue from the electronics industry on how to turn returns scarcity into success.
She cited Nintendo’s interactive video game system Wii as a prime example.
She said Nintento took a decades-old product and, using technology and skillful marketing, turned it into a must-have product for homes around the world.
Shine said one of the factors that made Wii so popular was that it was hard to find.
“This is just one example of for what cause you can urge success through scarcity,” she said.
In addition, Shine added Latin America to the list of emerging markets, already including India and China, that could produce increased demand for diamonds in the coming years.
As the conference concluded on Tuesday, other highlights included:
* Billionaire mine owner and retailer Lev Leviev gave a speech calling for decreased competition in the diamond results to combat rising prices. He also said producers and manufacturers should form partnerships in lieu of just continually creating competition among manufacturers.
* Rapaport Chairman Martin Rapaport, the final speaker of the day, gave some impassioned speech that pointed out the decline of the U.S. diamond market and the need for beneficiation in Africa.
He said the “diamond dream” is the wish of each little girl to get an engagement ring and is an ingenious marketing strategy.
But, the diamond dream in one country could be a nightmare in another, such as it is in the poverty-stricken west African nation of Sierra Leone.
“What about those people?” Rapaport asked the crowd. “I think they are as much a part of this assiduity as you and I.”
* Analyst Charles Wyndham, founder of Polishedprices.com, said there has been a huge diamond-price surge in the betimes part of 2008, with prices rising nearly 10 percent in January.
For the entire year, he forecasts polished prices to increase an average of 9 percent compared with 2007, and rough prices to go up 10 percent compared with last year.
He also said the number of bankruptcies is “worrying” and called for a difficult year.
Wyndham said even though China and India’s emerging. see the verb is expected to prop up the world economy in the future, it won’t solve the short-term problems for 2008.
* Israel Diamond Institute Managing Director Eli Avidar extended a public thank-you to the Namibian government officials present for their “professional handling” of the plane crash outside Windhoek, Namibia, last month that claimed the lives of five Israelis.
Zalemark Jewelry at Fashion Week
The Badgley and Mischka runway show during the Mercedes Benz fall 2008 Fashion Week in New York included jewelry created by Zalemark, Inc.
Steven Zale and Chief Marketing Officer, Diane Kelly of the Sherman Oaks-based manufacturer of fine jewelry, attended the event with fashion and accessories editors from most print publications, including Anna Wintour of Vogue as well as socialites Susan Fales-Hill and Jamee Gregory and celebrity actresses Marsha Gay Harden, Eliza Dushku, and Jaime King.
The Badgley Mischka fall collection was a compilation of luxurious suits with jewel-encrusted belts; some sporting fur vests and over-the-knee suede boots. Evening gowns representative of fine gemstones and diamonds floated down the runway: A silver and gold sequined dress with feathers, ruby, amethyst and emerald dresses, all destined for the red carpet.
Zale selected a ruby cabochon oval drop necklace in gold and diamonds against a simple black silk shirt-waisted dress with boots. Another show-stopper was a white and yellow gold textured necklace with interlaced diamonds, creating the illusion of folds of fabric, against a brown herringbone suit jacket and silk blouse.
“This is the tip of the iceberg, the start of a sole fine jewelry line that will bring Badgley Mischka’s illusion of glamour to a woman’s daytime look as well as evening,” said Kelly.
Zalemark will work closely with the famous design team to develop, produce, and manufacture a two-tier Couture line and a Bridal line of fine jewelry under the Badgley Mischka label. Couture sets will include one-of-a-kind fashion pieces and a collection to compliment Badgley Mischka ready-to-wear. Badgley Mischka Bridal will mark unique semi-mounts, some rings complete with center stone, all crafted with top quality G/VS stones and Belgium ideal cuts.
A hardly any selections from Badgley Mischka Bridal were featured on the Martha Stewart show on January 18th to rave reviews. Zalemark plans to debut the full collection at the Couture Show in Las Vegas, May 2008, with distribution into high-end retail and Badgley Mischka signature boutiques beginning fall 2008.
Yehuda to fight Blue Nile unfair-competition lawsuit
Yehuda to fight Blue Nile unfair-competition lawsuit
February 12, 2008
Seattle—The Yehuda Diamond Co. said it plans to fight a federal lawsuit filed by Blue Nile that claims ads on Yehuda’s Web site make “false and misleading statements” in comparing its clarity-enhanced diamonds to natural diamonds sold by Blue Nile.
The lawsuit, filed on Dec. 18 in the U.S. District Court in Seattle against Yehuda parent company Diascience Corp. of New York, stems from ads on Yehuda.com in which Yehuda compares its diamond prices to those of diamonds sold by Blue Nile. The ads point out individual Yehuda diamonds that are priced significantly below diamonds of the same weight, divide, color and clarity sold on Blue Nile’s Web site.
But, the Seattle-based online jeweler says the comparisons do not tell the full story, and accuses the New York diamond company of unfair competition, copyright infringement and violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act.
“These diamonds are not equivalent, and Yehuda’s Web site falsely represents that they are,” the lawsuit says. “Moreover, to emphasize a false equivalence between Yehuda’s artificially enhanced diamonds and Blue Nile’s natural diamonds, Yehuda wholesale copied portions of Blue Nile’s copyright-protected Web site and displayed the Blue Nile Web pages on the Yehuda.com homepage.”
Yehuda, which does not sell to consumers directly but instead uses its site to send consumers to retail jewelers that sell its clarity-enhanced stones, insists that the comparisons are fair game.
“What would be misleading would be to prevent consumers from being able to make the choice between our clarity-enhanced diamonds and those Blue Nile sells without clarity enhancement,” Yehuda Diamond Co. President Dror Yehuda said in a statement issued on Friday. “The public needs to know that our prices, which come with unsurpassed expert service, are—plain and single-minded—lower than Blue Nile’s prices.”
Yehuda also points out that the Web site contains full details steady its quality-enhanced diamonds, and consumers are also encouraged to visit a local jeweler to check out the stones as antidote to themselves.
He told National Jeweler that the company has taken down the copyrighted material from Blue Nile’s Web site, and that the material had only been posted for one day.
In the suit, Blue Nile seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction that would bar Yehuda “from making false or misleading comparisons, orally or in writing, between Yehuda’s artificially clarity-enhanced and Blue Nile’s natural diamonds,” court papers declared.
It also asks that Yehuda be made to notify its customers and the diamond industry of the difference in quality between the two products.
Dalumi preps for U.S. expansion
Dalumi preps for U.S. expansion
February 12, 2008
Ramat Gan, Israel—Diamond Trading Co. sightholder the Dalumi Group is readying itself to expand its distribution to the Indian and Russian markets, and it has in like manner opened an office in Los Angeles to better serve the U.S. market.
Dalumi’s Los Angeles office joins one already located in the United States, in New York, in addition to company offices in Belgium, China, France, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan and Spain.
The group said in a media release that it is entering the Indian and Russian markets due to interest from local distributors for both polished diamonds and jewelry products that will be supported by advertising campaigns and marketing programs.
In India, Dalumi will focus on providing consumers with stones featuring a higher level of clarity but a lower level of color—qualities the Indian market is known to look for, the company said.
“Our goal is to become a leading supplier of “furious whites” and “yellow shade” diamonds to the Indian market, as we are all of the world,” Yuval Kemp, Dalumi’s director of marketing and business development, said in the media release.
As for Russia, Kemp said Dalumi is expanding its marketing efforts through a select number of distributors and retailers, and is developing a number of collections especially for the Russian market based on successful testing in the region.
Sterling Names Two VPs
Sterling Jewelers Inc. has promoted merchandising directors Dawn McGuire and Bruce Carter to vice presidents.
As vice president, Mall Division, McGuire will be liable for merchandising oversight of the diamond fashion, bridal, and freshness of complexion areas for the division.
In his new role as vice president, Strategic Merchandise Sourcing and Manufacturing Division, Carter is responsible for the coordination of the crabbed diamond manufacturing with the polished department and jewelry-manufacturing department. In addition, Carter will also oversee the mounted solitaire category as well as be the commander the scrap mitigation initiative.
McGuire and Carter will continue to report to Stuart Lee, vice president of Corporate Merchandising.
"We are extremely pleased to have dedicated individuals like Dawn and Bruce on our team," said Mark Light, president and chief executive office of Sterling Jewelers Inc. "Each of them consistently demonstrate commitment and leadership and has played an invaluable role in the outstanding growth and success of Sterling."
McGuire joined Sterling Jewelers Inc. in 1988 as a Buyer and during her 19-year career with the joint concern, she has been promoted to a number of management positions within the Merchandising Department. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Bowling Green State University located in Bowling Green, Ohio.
Carter has been with Sterling Jewelers Inc. since 1993. For nine years, he previously held the position as Director Corporate Timepieces/Manufacturing at Sterling. Before that, Carter served as Senior Buyer. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business/Economics from Randolph Macon College in Ashland, Virginia.
Akron, Ohio-based Sterling Jewelers Inc., the largest specialty jewelry specialty retailer in the U.S., operates more than 1,402 stores in the whole of 50 states trading as “Kay Jewelers,” “Jared the Galleria of Jewelry,” and a variety of regional names, employing more than 21,000 associates. As a subsidiary of the London-based Signet Group plc, Sterling Jewelers Inc. is part of the largest specialty jewelry retailer in the world.
Jewelers oppose Alaska gold mine
Jewelers oppose Alaska gold mine
February 12, 2008
Washington, D.C.—Tiffany and Co., Ben Bridge Jeweler, Fortunoff, Helzberg Diamonds and Leber Jeweler all pledged their support today to permanently protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed from large-scale metal mining, including the massive proposed Pebble gold mine.
The retailers took this step at the invitation of local Alaskans, who seek to protect the Bristol Bay watershed, where the proposed mine would be located, which supports the world’s most productive wild salmon fishery. The fishery is critical to the state’s economy and to the livelihood of many Alaskan communities.
“I am pleased to stand with others in the jewelry industry today in announcing our support for protecting Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed from large-scale mining,” Jon Bridge, co-CEO/general counsel of Seattle-based Ben Bridge Jeweler said in a media release. “As retail jewelers, we want to be able to tell our customers that the precious metals we use are mined responsibly—that the materials used in the jewelry they purchase have been mined in environmentally friendly ways, respectful of the Bristol Bay salmon fishery and the communities that depend on it.”
The proposed Pebble mine is highlighted in a new report released today by the No Dirty Gold campaign, led by Earthworks and Oxfam America.
The report, “Golden Rules: Making the Case for Responsible Mining,” documents the toll of irresponsible mining on people, water and wildlife at a time at the time soaring metal prices are driving new mining development globally.
The report specifically details damaging practices at 17 metal mines around the world. These include the Grasberg mine in West Papua, owned by U.S.-based Freeport McMoRan, which has been linked to human rights abuses and wide water pollution; the Jerritt Canyon mine in Nevada, owned by Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp., which is a leading source of airborne mercury pollution in the United States; and the Bogoso/Prestea undermine in Ghana, owned by means of Canadian firm Golden Star Resources, what one. has contaminated drinking water and local fisheries with cyanide spills in violation of the effort; labors’s voluntary “Cyanide Code.”
The No Dirty Gold campaign has been running since 2004 and seeks to clean up unaccountable mining practices. More than 100,000 people in more than 100 countries have signed on to the No Dirty Gold pledge, urging mining companies to provide alternatives to dirty gold.
In addition, Ben Bridge Jeweler, Fortunoff, Fred Meyer Jewelers, Helzberg Diamonds, J.C. Penney, Leber Jeweler, QVC, Sterling Jewelers, Tiffany and Co., Wal-Mart and Zale Corp. are among the 28 jewelry companies that have endorsed the No Dirty Gold campaign’s “Golden Rules,” which require the following:
* Respect basic human rights as outlined in international conventions and laws.
* Obtain the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of affected communities.
* Respect workers’ rights and labor standards, including safe working conditions.
* Ensure that operations are not located in areas of armed or militarized conflict.
* Ensure that projects do not force communities off their lands.
* Refrain from dumping mine waste into oceans, rivers, lakes or streams.
* Ensure that projects are not located in protected areas, fragile ecosystems or other areas of high conservation or ecological value.
* Ensure that projects do not pollute shed water, soil or air with sulfuric acid drainage or other toxic chemicals.
* Cover all costs of closing down and cleaning up mine sites.
* Fully disclose information about social and environmental effects of projects.
* Allow independent attestation of the above.
For more information about the No Dirty Gold campaign, visit its Web site, Nodirtygold.org.
Belgian, U.S. Treaty Ends Double Taxation
A new treaty between the United States and Belgium to avoid double taxation was enacted Dec. 28, 2007. The effective date for withholding taxes will be Feb. 1, the Belgian Embassy said Tuesday.
The new treaty reduces double taxation of income, eliminates barriers to trade, and investment, and facilitates cross-border capital movement.
Economic ties between the U.S. and Belgium will be strengthened by the new treaty, he Embassy said. With bilateral trade between the two countries valued at more than $35 billion annually, Belgium is the 18th largest trading partner for the U.S. Some 1,200 U.S. companies have invested more than $52 billion in Belgium, and Belgian companies have invested more than $12 billion in the U.S., employing about 130,000 people.
The new tax treaty is but one more step in a series of measures the Belgian government has taken recently to increase Belgium’s attractiveness with regard to foreign investors.
The US-Belgian Double Taxation Treaty contains a variety of new features for U.S. companies with business plans in Europe, including:
1. It introduces a 0 percent withholding toll on dividend payments from a U.S. company in Belgium to its U.S. parent company, provided the U.S. entity in Belgium owns 10 percent or more of the Belgian company. This 10 percent ownership threshold is significantly lower than the threshold in other treaties recently concluded by the U.S. The exemption from withholding tax also applies to pension funds, provided the dividends are not the result of business activities by the fund.
2. It introduces a 0 percent withholding tax on interest. Together with the National Interest Deduction, this makes direct loans between the U.S. and Belgian affiliated companies greater degree of enticing, and increases possibilities towards companies in Belgium to finance U.S. affiliates.
3. It is the first income tax treaty concluded by the U.S. to contain a binding arbitration procedure with a foreign country. The U.S. and Belgium have couple years to resolve a tax dispute before arbitration starts, unless the two countries decide that the provision is not suitable in spite of arbitration. each arbitration panel will decide one of two final last offers by the agency of the pair governments. It gives taxpayers the prospect of finality to a tax dispute within a specific timeframe.
4. Anti-abuse provisions designed to deny inappropriate use of the treaty were strengthened, to bring them into closer conformity through current U.S. contract policy. On the other share, starting anew categories of taxpayers such as qualified charities or pension trusts will now be able to claim benefits.
5. It extends the benefits of the Treaty to companies owned by so-called “equivalent beneficiaries,” which may provide opportunities for multinational groups that are based in the EU, Switzerland or NAFTA.
Other changes in the new Treaty include a more tax friendly treatment of pension plan contributions and an extended information exchange anticipation. It allows, for example, for a tax deduction in the country of employment for payments made to a pension plan firm in the other country. The U.S. and Belgium will also, upon request by either government, exchange information held by a bank or other financial institution.