Age of Asset: The State of Jewelry in 2026

Despite the shockwaves caused by relentlessly rising gold and silver prices and the impact of US tariffs, the jewelry industry is thriving. Brands remain bullish on the American market and continue to expand their footprint. They also continue to invest — not only in their icons and high jewelry collections, but also in experiences aimed at both clients and the wider public. Museum exhibitions, cultural events, and immersive brand moments have become central to strategies designed to embed jewelry even deeper into popular culture.
According to Federica Levato, senior partner at Bain & Co, the category is benefiting from a more disciplined approach to pricing, which is helping it win customers from other luxury segments. Brands that can generate strong icons, compelling high jewelry, and meaningful experiences are particularly well-positioned. More fundamentally, Levato points to a structural shift reshaping the category over the next five years: growing consumer interest in jewelry as an investment asset — territory long dominated by watches, but now extending to include any type of hard luxury.

That positioning also leaves jewelry well-equipped to navigate what Bernstein analyst Luca Solca describes as a K-shaped economy, marked by widening wealth and income inequality. At the lower end of the market, entry-price jewelry offers a more compelling proposition than handbags, with pieces below the €10,000 threshold. At the top end, high jewelry satisfies the desire for rarity and uniqueness among high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients. In this increasingly polarized landscape, Solca argues, the winners will be brands sitting at the apex of consumer desirability — particularly those least exposed to bridal and most capable of combining cultural relevance with enduring value. With the global number of millionaires on the rise (up 4.6% year-on-year in 2024, according to UBS), the future of jewelry looks sparkly.
The rising gold price has always been a point of interest, yet the scale and speed of its recent ascent are unprecedented. On January 3, 2020, gold traded at $1,548.75 per ounce. As of February 9, 2026, it stands at $5,019.07 — a rise of roughly 224% in just over six years.

What is even more striking is how sharply that increase has accelerated over the past year. On January 1, 2024, gold was priced at just $2,028.00 an ounce. Since then, it has surged by approximately 147%, meaning that nearly half of the total six-year increase has occurred in the most recent phase of the market cycle.
According to data from the World Gold Council, central banks have purchased more than a thousand tons of gold annually since 2022 — the highest level on record — led by China, Türkiye, and India, as countries seek to reduce reliance on the US dollar and insulate reserves from geopolitical risk.
For jewelry brands, this rapid appreciation has impacted not only sourcing and pricing, but also the psychology of buying.

However, Babin notes that while gold has drawn much of the attention, the pressure has been even more pronounced in colored gemstones: over the past 15 years, he says, the average price per carat has quadrupled, while diamonds have remained comparatively stable.
Independent brands feel this shift most acutely. Brazilian jeweler Ara Vartanian recalls that, for the first time in his 25-year career, he melted gold from existing stock rather than re-sort at sharply higher prices.

Even so, Vartanian acknowledges that launching a jewelry business under today’s conditions would be materially more challenging.
For eponymous founder Annoushka Ducas, gold inflation — which she says began to have a material impact around 2020 — has forced a broader rethink across pricing, sourcing, and design. The challenge, she argues, is to “preserve a sense of generosity while engineering pieces that use gold more intelligently”. Alongside this, Ducas has diversified her offer, introducing the Knuckle collection, crafted in silver at a more accessible price point. Other designers, including Giorgio B began experimenting with titanium in some sculptural pieces presented at PAD art fair in London last year.
In other cases, constraints have acted as catalysts for creativity and commercial expansion.
Roxanne First responded with Bubblegum by RF, a fully modular and customizable collection of pendants with prices ranging from £45 to £12,000. For Sheherazade Goldsmith, founder of Loquet, heightened awareness of gold inflation presented an opportunity to move decisively upmarket, adding a premium 18-karat gold line to her existing 9-karat and 14-karat collections, and addressing a more investment-minded clientele.
Other brands like Van Cleef & Arpels and Chopard have followed a similar approach. Chopard presents its collection in May, during the Cannes Film Festival, while in 2024, Van Cleef & Arpels presented its collection in September, before deliberately skipping the 2025 season.