Editor’s Note
This article discusses an ongoing investigation into Spanish jewelry brand Tous, following reports that it sold items containing non-metallic materials while advertising them as precious metals. The case, which dates back to a 2018 complaint, is currently before the National Court. As legal proceedings are active, we will continue to monitor developments and provide updates as more information becomes available.
The news broke yesterday, with various national media outlets reporting on the situation facing the Spanish jewelry brand Tous. The company had been reported for selling jewelry filled with non-metallic material and advertising it as if it were gold or silver, and was being investigated by the National Court.
Apparently, it all started in 2018, when the Association of Jewelry Consumers and Users reported to the Civil Guard in Córdoba that they had detected non-metallic materials in jewelry sold as 18 or 24 karat gold and first-standard silver. As it was a suspected large-scale fraud, the Córdoba Prosecutor’s Office deferred to the National Court Prosecutor’s Office, which, as revealed by El Independiente, opened a complaint last December. According to the same source, Tous could be committing crimes of continued fraud, document falsification, misleading advertising, and corruption. An investigation is currently underway.
The Central Investigating Court of the National Court has summoned the company’s legal representative to testify this Wednesday, January 21. Applus Laboratories, the firm that performs quality control for Tous jewelry, has also been summoned to testify as part of the investigation. However, nothing has been clarified yet.
Tous, for its part, has stated on its LinkedIn account that all its gold and silver jewelry is always of the first standard and expressly complies with precious metals legislation.
In a statement, they explain that the use of microfusion and electroforming (the technology they have used to manufacture them) “offers the possibility of creating large-volume jewelry that is also lightweight and provides consumers with a greater variety of products.” They assure that this type of technique “is endorsed by all technical bodies of the Public Administration” and that they incorporate the corresponding guarantee and authenticity certificate specifying this technique in all their pieces. They add that “Tous is a brand that markets jewelry design made with precious metals, but in no case is the brand dedicated to selling these metals by weight.”
For a piece of jewelry to be sold as “first-standard silver,” the Law on Objects Manufactured with Precious Metals establishes that it must reach 925 thousandths. The analysis performed in Córdoba on two different pieces from the firm did not mark that amount. Instead, the jewelry pieces have 743.8 and 734.7 thousandths of silver, respectively. Another test performed, X-ray fluorescence technique, confirms that the exterior of the piece was indeed silver of at least 925 thousandths but does not say the same about the interior, which it classifies as non-metallic material. According to the Regulation, non-metallic materials such as plaster, putty, or plastic can be used to join pieces or provide stability, but they cannot be colored or covered to give them the appearance of precious metals.
To learn a bit more about the electroforming production technique that Tous has declared using, we spoke with several expert manufacturers who explained to us that it is a technique usually used in voluminous pieces to reduce weight and lower the price.
The jewelry is constructed via plating around a core that gives it structure, a plastic polymer (methacrylate). Subsequently, through various acid techniques, the interior plastic is dissolved so that no residues remain inside. Therefore, they are usually large-volume but hollow pieces that have a lower amount of gold than a solid gold piece.
But pieces created by electroforming, whether gold or silver, can indeed be considered hallmarked jewelry.
Normally this technique is used with chandeliers or religious objects that are not sold as jewelry, and perhaps in Tous’s case the problem lies in how it has been communicated. As the firm has a jewelry brand image and does have pieces that are hallmarked jewelry, its marketing technique could have been very risky by considering all its pieces as such.
In any case, the Spanish Association of Jewelers clarifies that…
