The R&M “Lettre”

Milan, Italy – The global luxury industry has surpassed $1 trillion in retail sales value this year, with the category that includes jewelry and watches seeing slight but positive real growth.

Even today, with all the hype about e-commerce, most jewelry is still purchased in brick-and-mortar stores. In a 2014 Deloitte survey, 52 percent of consumer said they preferred to purchase jewelry at stores, 8 percent said online, but 40 percent were undecided.

Last week, I attended an event held by De Beers/Forevermark here in New York City called (and hash-tagged, naturally) #TheOne, which references the diamond brand’s new holiday commercial (It’s a Long Journey to Become the One) and, with it, the return of “A Diamond is Forever.”

New York – Ahead of its annual fashion show, Victoria’s Secret has unveiled its annual “Fantasy Bra,” again created in collaboration with jeweler Mouawad.

Expects manufacturing recovery in 2H 2016. Rough diamond prices need to come down by 15 percent but the market needs to stabilize first, Maxim Shkadov, president of the International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA) told Rapaport News.

A quick note before Sight 9 – it’s going to be small, but it will take place. De Beers is adapting to the market, or as some may say, they are playing it by ear. The company is trying to meet the changing needs of its clients. Sadly, these changing needs seem mostly like detrition.

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is anticipated to be the busiest shopping day in 2015 both in terms of shopper numbers and total sales, according to analytics company ShopperTrak.

Everyone agrees: The diamond market, and the way diamonds are sold, is a mess. The system has broken down. While producers continue to post strong profits, manufacturers’ margins have been whittled down to nothing, and the middle market’s woes have brought the industry to a crisis point.

In September 2015, the House of Chaumet opened its Pop-up Museum. The museum sits alongside the brand’s store in Place Vendôme, Paris, and invites us to wander both through their rural creations and their history.

The Gemological Institute of America has invalidated 1,042 grading reports issued by its grading lab, as they bear grades that were altered after its system was accessed without authorization by former employees of its database support contractor, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

Low rough diamond demand expected through 4Q. De Beers will allow sightholders to defer their entire November allocations until December as diamond manufacturers remain under pressure from weak market conditions.

This week, the Diamond Producers Association, the group formed earlier this year by the world’s major miners, announced that it has tapped longtime jewelry industry marketer Sally Morrison as its new managing director of marketing, bringing her back to where she started in this industry.