Editor’s Note
This article explores the growing trend of lab-grown diamonds, highlighting their environmental benefits and competitive pricing as key drivers of their rising popularity in the jewelry market.
A craze for lab-grown diamonds is sweeping the domestic jewelry market. They are gaining popularity for being produced in an eco-friendly manner and for their lower price compared to natural diamonds.
Lab-grown diamonds, also known as synthetic or cultured diamonds, are diamonds created by scientists through technological development. The term combines ‘lab’ (laboratory) and ‘grown’.
Lab-grown diamonds possess eco-friendly characteristics, such as not involving pollutants associated with mining. Mining one carat of natural diamond requires 500 liters of water and excavates 6.5 tons of earth, whereas ‘lab-grown diamonds’ have virtually no soil pollution or carbon emissions as there is no mining process. Their price is also 30-70% lower than natural diamonds.
Market prospects and consumer response are also positive.
According to a report by diamond expert analyst Paul Zimnisky, the lab-grown diamond market, which was worth about 2.6 trillion won in 2021, is expected to double to 5.2 trillion won by 2025.
Furthermore, a survey commissioned by domestic diamond specialist KDT Diamond to mobile user platform Kratos, conducted from October 6 to 13 with 2,000 consumers, found that 4 out of 10 domestic consumers intend to purchase lab-grown diamonds when buying diamond products in the future.
According to the survey results, in response to the question about willingness to buy lab-grown diamonds, positive answers (‘strongly agree’ and ‘agree’) accounted for 41.6% (14.6% and 27.0% respectively). In contrast, negative responses were only 22.5% (‘strongly disagree’ 8.3%, ‘disagree’ 14.3%).
As a result, not only the domestic jewelry industry but also the retail sector is jumping into selling lab-grown diamonds.
The first company to introduce lab-grown diamonds in Korea was Loyd, a gold jewelry brand operated by E-Land Group affiliate E-World. Loyd began selling lab-grown diamonds under the brand ‘L-DIAMOND’ in December 2020.
Since then, Loyd has launched 30 types of rings, 12 necklaces, and 7 earrings, including its flagship product ‘1-carat lab-grown diamond ring’, segmented by carat size and design.
Currently, Loyd has about 300 lab-grown related products, and sales of lab-grown products this year are expected to grow by 150% compared to 2021, indicating high popularity.
In fact, Loyd sold a 1-carat diamond ring for 1 million won starting August 15th, and sales surpassed 1,000 units in just three weeks. Accordingly, Loyd expanded its product line last month by launching 5-part lab-grown diamond rings and necklaces to target a broader customer base.
Additionally, Loyd introduced a ‘Premium Hotel Package’ targeting engaged couples in collaboration with Kensington Hotel. The package included a Loyd 1-carat lab-grown diamond ring, a Kensington Hotel Yeouido Executive accommodation voucher, and a New York New York restaurant voucher. Loyd’s 1-carat lab-grown diamond ring was specially made of platinum.
Alongside this, Loyd is also running the ‘Perfect GIFT Perfect TIMING’ campaign, where customers can browse various lab-grown diamond products like 1-carat diamond rings, 5-part, and 3-part items in a curated format on its website.
KDT Diamond, which succeeded in developing lab-grown diamonds in 2021, being the first in Korea and the eighth in the world, launched its lab-grown diamond brand ‘ALOD’ in March this year. Currently, ALOD has about 1,000 lab-grown diamond related products. ALOD made its debut at Hyundai Department Store’s Trade Center store in March and opened a pop-up store at Hyundai Department Store’s Mokdong store last month. It is operating a pop-up store at Shinsegae Department Store’s main store until the 29th of this month and plans to enter Lotte Department Store’s Jamsil Avenue L next month.
KDT Diamond recently received approval from India’s Ministry of Commerce & Industries to establish a lab-grown diamond manufacturing and polishing factory. The factory site is located in the ‘Surat Special Economic Zone’ in the ‘Surat’ region, which polishes over 95% of the world’s diamond volume. India is a diamond powerhouse responsible for 95% of the world’s diamond processing and has recently begun implementing active support policies to gain an advantage in the lab-grown diamond market. Earlier this year, the Indian government announced plans to abolish tariffs and provide funding support for diamond seeds, a key raw material needed for lab-grown diamond production.
KDT Diamond plans to begin construction of this factory early next month and complete it by early March next year. The factory size is 2,000㎡ (total floor area) and is scheduled to start operation by the end of March, aiming to produce 36,000 carats in its first year and 100,000 carats annually thereafter. To this end, the company plans to establish a local Indian corporation and hire about 150 employees.
As demand for lab-grown diamonds grows, department stores are also stepping into selling them.
Shinsegae Department Store’s Gangnam branch opened a pop-up store for jewelry company ‘Ernest Seoul’ in April, showcasing about 100 jewelry items including lab-grown diamond rings, bracelets, and necklaces. It also held a curated exhibition on SSG.com featuring products from five brands including Diamy, Segment A, and Recu.
Lotte Department Store also brought in the lab-grown diamond brand ‘The Grace London’ at its main store last month, and this month, it held a ‘Luminous Lab’ pop-up store at its Jamsil branch with discount promotions.
SSG.com also launched an official ‘Lab Grown Diamond’ brand section at the end of last year to target consumers.
Currently, various brands such as Dorothy, Dinetch, Recu, Loyd, Shamming Jewelry, and John Paul Jewelry are present in SSG.com’s lab-grown diamond brand section, with sales increasing at an average monthly growth rate of 50%. Notably, it is popular among the MZ generation, with customers in their 20s and 30s accounting for 27% of total buyers. Accordingly, SSG.com has increased the number of SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) to about 600, a 70% increase from the first month.
SSG.com plans to expand the number of products in its lab-grown diamond specialty section to about 1,000 by the end of the year. Through collaborations with leading brands, it also plans to introduce lab-grown colored gemstone jewelry lines featuring sapphires, rubies, emeralds, etc.
Engaging in product co-planning, SSG.com is currently exclusively selling a pink lab-grown diamond collection jointly developed with Dorothy.
Pink lab-grown diamonds are created by cultivating in a lab the natural pink diamond, considered one of the world’s rarest gemstones. The two companies, sharing the intent of ‘wanting people to enjoy the rarest gemstone in everyday life’, began co-planning the product in June.
The pink lab-grown diamond jewelry introduced by the two companies consists of a total of 13 items, including classic ring earrings, drop necklaces with fruit motif designs, and bracelets shaped like flowers, characterized by designs that can be comfortably worn daily.
