Editor’s Note
As the luxury market evolves, the mid-price jewellery segment is experiencing significant growth. This article explores how brands are strategically adapting their collections to capture this emerging demand.
As demand for high jewellery rises and sales of entry-level pieces decline, the mid-priced jewellery segment, ranging from $5,000 to $100,000, is booming. Brands are adjusting their collections in response, elevating entry-level designs and simplifying high jewellery creations to meet this demand.
Specific collections like Bvlgari’s Tubogas, Gucci Flora and Cartier’s Tressage, fit this category. Pascal Mouawad, co-guardian of Swiss-Lebanese family-owned jewellery maison Mouawad, which recently opened its first European flagship store in London, says:
Bain & Co global head of fashion and luxury Claudia D’Arpizio notes that mid-priced jewellery sales can account for 30 to 70 per cent of a brand’s revenue. She explains that this category, which has benefited from the post-Covid boom, bridges the gap between simpler designs and “repeatable high-end jewellery”, allowing brands to attract consumers across all price points. D’Arpizio also comments on the high profitability of the segment, as it is usually immune from the price negotiations that are common in one-of-a-kind high jewellery pieces. In addition to this, it can expand a brand’s reach: the $5,000 to $100,000 segment has become a new entry-price point for those who usually buy above $100,000.
In the past five years, brands like Buccellati, Chaumet and Louis Vuitton have patented new diamond cuts, while Dior made headlines with an exceptional 88.88-carat yellow diamond, unveiled during the opening of its Avenue Montaigne boutique in 2022. In April this year, Louis Vuitton launched its LV Diamonds collection, focusing on its latest diamond cut and bridal jewellery, followed by the Damier collection in September, which reinterprets the house’s iconic pattern in precious metals and diamonds.
With the 140-carat diamond Serpenti Aeterna necklace worn by Priyanka Chopra at Bvlgari’s latest high jewellery event in Rome this past May, the Italian brand — better known for its coloured gems — made a bold statement about its investment in diamonds.
The necklace, crafted entirely from a 150-carat rough diamond, epitomised how legacy brands are reframing the narrative around natural diamonds, which have faced challenges linked to the rise of lab-grown alternatives.
Sales of laboratory-grown diamonds continue to grow: in the US, they surged from making up 20 per cent of all diamond sales to over 50 per cent, while natural diamond sales fell from 80 per cent to below 50 per cent between 2021 and 2023, according to a study by Tenoris, Madestones and Bernstein.