Editor’s Note
This article highlights a growing divide in the jewelry market, where surging demand for ultra-luxury brands contrasts sharply with the struggles of lesser-known domestic labels. It serves as a case study in the broader trend of consumption polarization affecting various sectors.
▲ Visitors examine works displayed at the Korea Jewelry & Gem Design Association member exhibition during the 2024 Seoul International Jewelry & Accessory Show held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on the 20th. (Yonhap News)
Polarization is becoming prominent in the jewelry market as well, with demand for ultra-luxury (luxury) jewelry brands increasing while domestic brands with relatively low recognition struggle to escape difficulties. Domestic jewelry brands are strengthening their lab-grown diamond product lines in an attempt to rebound their sales.
According to Yonhap News on the 22nd, sales of luxury jewelry brands at Lotte, Shinsegae, and Hyundai Department Store from January to August this year grew by 15.2% to 18.5% compared to the same period last year. In contrast, sales of domestic brands increased by a maximum of only 4.6%. Simply comparing the sales growth rates shows a gap of more than three times.
Representative luxury jewelry brands showing strong sales performance include Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Bulgari, and Tiffany. On the other hand, domestic jewelry brands such as J.ESTINA, Stonehenge, and TIRRIR are struggling.
According to data on changes in the size of the Korean jewelry market by Wolgok Jewelry Industry Research Institute and Gallup Korea, the size of the domestic jewelry market last year was 5.2569 trillion won, a decrease of 11.4% from the previous year, while the imported jewelry market grew by 7.7% to 2.4746 trillion won.
The reason for the struggles of domestic jewelry brands is attributed to consumption polarization due to high inflation. There is also an analysis that as the prices of domestic jewelry products have risen due to increases in gold prices, demand is shifting more towards luxury jewelry with higher brand recognition.
Domestic jewelry brands are launching lab-grown diamond products, which have been showing rapid growth recently, in an attempt to rebound their sales. Lab-grown diamonds refer to diamonds artificially created in a laboratory. They have the same physical and chemical properties as natural diamonds, such as composition, refractive index, and hardness, but are relatively cheaper in price, making them popular.
J.ESTINA recently launched its premium collection ‘MOVE’ using lab-grown diamonds. Another domestic jewelry brand, DIDIER DUBOT, introduced lab-grown diamond products for the first time with its 2024 Fall/Winter Sensual Collection.
Lloyd, which first introduced lab-grown diamonds to Korea in 2020, plans to continuously release various lab-grown products with different weights and designs in the future. According to Lloyd, sales of lab-grown diamonds from January to August this year grew by 73% compared to the same period last year.