Gilbert & Frech Launches Home Based Jewelry Business

Gilbert and Frech, a leading global online merchant of jewelry, gemstones, beads, and supplies, today announced the launch of Gilbert & Frech Representatives. The program will allow individuals access to wholesale prices and special consulting services to create their own home based jewelry business.

"With Gilbert & Frech Representatives, individuals have the incredible opportunity to use the vast experience of our jewelry company while creating their own business," said Robert Frechette, CEO of Gilbert & Frech. "Using the unique products and services of Gilbert & Frech, individuals will receive everything they need to create a successful business. We've made a home based business that's easy to start with great income potential"

The Gilbert & Frech Representatives program includes the following:

• Start-up package of sterling silver jewelry with natural gemstones


• 2-3 day delivery to your door


• Consulting on set-up and sales


• Unlimited income potential


• 90 Day risk-free return


• Lorri Ely's book, "How to Run a Home Based Jewelry Business for Fun and Profit". 121 pages.

Interested individuals can visit http://www.gfreps.com/ for complete program details or call 1-(877)-405-2951(Toll Free).
Source: financevisor

Lakewood jeweler still sparkles

Lakewood's oldest jewelry store might soon become the area's colored diamond destination.

With more than 30 years in business, Purvis Jewelers has a solid reputation among longtime Lakewood residents. But to stand out from the growing competition of Internet sales and corporate retailers, owner John Purvis plans to carve out a niche with his award-winning custom colored diamond jewelry.

Purvis recently won the Rocky Mountain Jewelers 2007 Design Contest for a diamond and pink sapphire ring with his signature square shank. He won the same award last year for another gold ring with colored diamonds and has taken home numerous other regional and national honors for his custom-designed work, including the Jewelers of America grand prize and the DeBeers Diamonds of Today Award.

Purvis is also the president of the Rocky Mountain Jewelers association.

By establishing a reputation for colored diamonds, Purvis hopes to grow his sales from about $1 million annually to $5 million, he said.

Demand for colored diamonds has surged in the last five years, particularly in the United States, where they are relatively new, according to the Natural Colored Diamond Association.

Since the 1970s, Purvis has collected about 450 naturally colored and irradiated diamonds, ranging from pale yellow to cognac to deep blue and pinkish purple. Naturally colored diamonds are extremely rare and come from all over the world, including Venezuela, India, South Africa and Australia, Purvis said.

One of Purvis' proudest creations is a ring he designed last year for Bishop Walker Nickless, a former pastor at Our Lady of Fatima parish in Lakewood who is now bishop of Sioux City, Iowa. Purvis set a purple diamond in the middle of a cross, with "M" shapes on the sides to represent the mountains of Colorado, Nickless said.

"I get compliments on it every time I wear it," he said.

Purvis' wife, Pam Purvis, wears several rings her husband designed for her, including a gold ring studded with tiny colored diamonds. Pam Purvis wasn't really into jewelry when she married John, but she's since developed a taste for it, she said.

"It's a fun business," she said. "Of all the customers at Purvis Jewelers, I'm my own best customer."

Independent jewelers such as Purvis face stiff competition from department stores, chain stores and Internet retailers, he said. Wal-Mart and Sam's Club, for example, sold about $2.5 billion worth of diamond jewelry in 2006, he said.

The competition has forced Purvis to be more business savvy and more aggressive with the store's marketing. He's taken out billboard space on West Colfax and hired two consulting companies to analyze his business. In the process, Purvis has learned how best to manage his inventory and cover basic overhead costs, he said.

"The pie is the same size, but the slices keep getting smaller and smaller," he said. "If you're not in the top 10 percent, you're not going to survive."

John Purvis, owner of Purvis Jewelers, sets diamonds in a ring for a customer July 25. Purvis has won awards for his ring designs, including an 18-karat yellow gold ring with an oval-shaped pink sapphire and diamonds. The design earned him a prize in the Rocky Mountain Jewelers 2007 Design Contest.
Source: goldentranscript

Online Jewelry and Watch Sales Grew 32% in Q2

Retail e-commerce spending in the U.S. (excluding travel) increased 23 percent in the second quarter of 2007 versus year ago to $27.2 billion, according to comScore, Inc., which measures digital data. Jewelry and watch sales grew by 32 percent for the period.

“Retail e-commerce rebounded solidly in the second quarter after a modest start to the year,” said Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore. “After posting 17 percent growth versus year ago in Q1, retail e-commerce sales grew 23 percent year-over-year in Q2, matching the growth rates we’ve seen during the past couple of years.”

The top-gaining e-commerce category in the quarter was video games, consoles & accessories, which jumped 159 percent on the strength of Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 sales, according to the Reston, Va.-based company. Sport & fitness also saw substantial gains (up 58 percent), followed by consumer electronics (up 51 percent) and event tickets (up 44 percent).

Online travel spending increased 14 percent to $20.3 billion, comScore said. Total U.S. e-commerce spending climbed 19 percent to $47.5 billion for the period.

Based on the first-half growth rates, comScore said total U.S. online consumer spending is on track to reach $200 billion in 2007.

“Even factoring in the moderate growth rates from Q1, we’re currently on pace to break $200 billion in e-commerce spending in 2007,” Fulgoni said. “However, in the past we’ve seen growth rates accelerate as the year progresses, culminating with the online holiday shopping season, so $200 billion may actually turn out to be a conservative estimate.”
Source: jckonline

European Jewelers Engage In Global Battle for Brides

French jeweler Cartier decorated the windows of its New York flagship earlier this year with ivory-and-gold wedding cakes to fete its new bridal-jewelry salon, dedicated to diamond solitaires and wedding bands -- a feature it will roll out in other U.S. cities over the next few months.

Down Fifth Avenue, De Beers, a joint venture between De Beers SA and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, recently unveiled an engagement-ring counter.

For years, most European high-end jewelry houses turned up their noses at diamond engagement rings. Couples on the Continent preferred colored gems and family heirlooms.
Source: wsj

Bold designs top 2008 jewelry trends

Wearing less jewelry pieces is more when it comes to the top jewelry trends for 2008, but the key ingredient for trend-setting fashionistas is larger, bolder styles that are gem-intensive.

That advice comes from Jesse Chao of Gems by Chao, a leading Houston fine jeweler. Chao specializes in advising her gala-minded clientele—a mix of socialites and philanthropists—and matching fine jewelry to their personal style.

In a statement, Chao said women who are already planning to attend galas will be wearing less fine jewelry but adorning themselves with larger, more impressive pieces, for a classic "Grace Kelly" look. Consumers can get the look by wearing a single, diamond-studded cuff bracelet or a one-of-a-kind cocktail ring, for example.

Cocktail rings have loomed on the trend radar for some time now, so the more unique the gemstone is, the better, Chao said.

As for men, sports stars and celebrities have long adorned themselves in diamonds, but the trend for 2008 is to incorporate large colored stones into bold pieces such as bracelets, cuff links and rings.
Source: nationaljewelernetwork

Macef Hosts Young Jewelry Designer Exhibition

More, the international precious jewelry and accesories show held during Macef, Milan's biannual gift, jewelry and accesories trade fair, will host the MoreDesignClub, a showcase of new trends and products created by up-and-coming young designers connected with Milan's fashion world.

The section will feature products from around 50 young designers, 90 percent of whom are from Europe (mainly Germany, Poland and Great Britain.)

"This is a significant project," explains More's marketing manager Costantino Cutroneo. "MoreDesignClub reiterates some key concepts: the uniqueness of More, an exhibition dedicated to top-of-the-range jewelry; Milan's ability to attract creative energies from all over the world; and the imaginative flair and skill of the young designers."

The exhibition will run in connection with three other jewelry areas in Macef: September Gold, an area dedicated to stones, semi-finished products and importers/distributors; the Silver Section; and Bijoux: the costume jewelry and fashion, hair accesssories show.
Source: gifts-and-tablewares

Spreading Tibetan art , Sourcingmap announced "Eastern" Tibet Necklace & Earrings jewelry

Tread on the heels of the Tibetan Kangba Art Festival in northwest China's Qinghai province on July 25, Sourcingmap.com announced their "Eastern" Tibet Sunflower Necklace & Earrings which demonstrated the strong ethnic culture of Chinese national again.

Tibet is a beautiful, unique and mysterious region , and people all around the world are longing to go and experience its long cultural arts and unique folk customs. If you come to Tibet, you will find that Tibetan men, women and children have their own favorite decoration. Jewelry is no longer a simple decoration, it has become a part of their lives..

In recent years, with the widely prevalence of international fashion industry and national nostalgia, due to gold and silver jewelry’s stereotyped and gaudy colors of light ,they have almost been pass out ofpeople’s mind, and ethnic jewelry with a sparkling colors, exaggerated bold design, full of personality and not easy to be repeat have become the new darling of the human fashion.
Source: openpr

Kahala Mall jewelry store will close

Reflections of the Heart, a fine-jewelry store in Kahala Mall, plans to close Sept. 29 and make way for a new concept store.

Donald Olson, owner of the specialty shop, says he wants to move on to creating a concept retail store that would set it apart from the competition.

The competition locally in the small but profitable business of designer-wear and stone jewelry has increased exponentially in the past few years, Olson said.

Large national chains such as Tiffany's and Harry Winston have opened stores in Hawaii to tap into the pockets of Japanese tourists and well-heeled locals.

Independent operators like Olson say they feel the pinch.

"We are going in a new direction," he said. "We need to make a shift and offer Hawaii high-end, unique pieces, the kind you see on Desperate Housewives and other TV shows."

Olson wouldn't disclose more details about the new business except to say he is looking at possibly two locations. One would be continuing his lease at Kahala Mall and another involves a prominent space, still under negotiations.

Reflections of the Heart opened at Kahala Mall almost five years ago. The 1,200-square-foot store sells handcrafted glass pieces, knickknacks and jewels.

The store employs eight people, who are expected to move on to the new business. Its going-out-of-business sale started Wednesday.
Source: bizjournals

How To: Buy Her Jewelry

For many guys, buying jewelry for a woman is intimidating and discouraging. Like her shoes and her clothes, her jewelry speaks directly to her personal tastes, yet it uses a language and lexicon most of us find obscure and barely familiar. Meanwhile, some pieces of jewelry are loaded with symbolism ready to pop us like land mines if we’re not careful.

As a result, buying the right piece of jewelry begins to feel a lot like being down to your last dart, and in the wide sprawl around the bull's-eye, around getting it right, there seems to be a thousand ways to miss the mark and get it all wrong. So, here are some suggestions -- both general and more specific -- to steer you in the right direction.

Click here to check general suggestions.

Source: askmen

Cape couple admits to stealing jewelry

Police say she drove the getaway car and he committed the crimes. Now, a Cape Coral couple has been caught after months of allegedly stealing people's jewelry and trading it in for cash.

Cape police say the crimes go back to May 2 when a homeowner reported finding a man in his house claiming to fix the air conditioner.

Three months and dozens of hits later, police found thousands of dollars worth of jewelry decorating the couple's home - though half of the items they stole had already been pawned off.

We caught up with Timothy Alessio, the grandfather of the man who first laid eyes on the thieves.

"The guy stated he was fixing our air conditioning and he couldn't figure out the problem," said Alessio.

But 35-year-old James Worden knew nothing about air conditioners. In fact, police say he had a more lucrative craft.

Alessio says his grandson looked Worden right in the eye. They came face to face on May 2 and Worden jetted right past him and out the door with more than $3,500 worth of jewels in his pocket.

"Various rings, jewelry, and necklaces," said Alessio. "I worked hard - not only for the money but for the sentimental value."

Police say Worden and his girlfriend, 36-year-old Julieann Sommer, were just getting started.

In the end, investigators tracked the couple down and they uncovered thousands of dollars worth of jewelry inside their home. But most of it was already gone.

Police say Sommer pawned the stolen jewels for cash and what the pawn shop wouldn't take - they'd keep.

Alessio says his possessions sold for $70.

"Obviously it doesn't mean anything to them, it's just money," said Alessio.

The couple admitted to the burglaries. They told police they did it because money was short.

Worden was in jail Tuesday night and Sommer was released on bond.

We went to the couple's house, but Sommer wasn't home to comment.
Source: abc-7