It’s relatively easy for jewelry companies to be “ethical”. They can make this claim without much proof to back it up because the industry is largely unregulated. You might see some brands claiming to source recycled diamonds, use ethical manufacturing methods, or employ any number of green-washing marketing techniques common in the fine jewelry world.

If the ethics (and further, the morals) of your jeweler’s processes matter to you, we encourage you to dig deeper and find out more about what each company is actually doing to be able to support their claims of ethical manufacturing. The most important questions to ask:

• Who makes your jewelry and where is it made? Is it done by hands you know, or is it mass-manufactured?
• Where do your materials come from? How do you ensure they are ethically sourced?

Here at Melanie Casey Jewelry, we want to make it easy for you. Transparency is part of our business model, so you don’t have to dig for the answers to these questions. Let’s get into it.

Melanie Casey is our designer and president. She personally designs each and every piece in the Melanie Casey jewelry collection. (She also hand-selects her favorite pieces from other fine jewelry artists and designers for our Curated Artists collection.) From design to finished piece, many hands take it from concept to reality. 

We have a somewhat unique business model. We have two manufacturing studios, full time bench jewelers who work from home, and global trusted partners who create our pieces. Your Melanie Casey engagement ring will have been crafted in our Andover, MA or Lexington, KY studios or by a jeweler at their home bench in states like Colorado, Louisiana, and New Hampshire. Melanie also develops close relationships within the industry to partner with family-owned small jeweler teams overseas in places as far-reaching as Europe and Hong Kong. Our priority, always, is to have the right hands creating each piece to ensure a perfectly executed finished product. Melanie’s designs are complex and require years of ongoing training at the bench, so we have a short list of Melanie-trained and trusted jewelers and partners. 

No matter who creates the piece, each one is sent to our Melanie Casey quality control team here in the Andover studio to ensure that it’s made according to our extremely high standards. If anything is amiss, the QC team sends it back to the bench for additional work. This careful method of hiring, training, and quality control is one reason why our timelines are a bit longer than mass-manufactured jewelry brands, and our warranty is unmatched. We think perfection is worth the wait.

As we mentioned above, it doesn’t take much for jewelry brands to claim they’re “ethical” because regulations aren’t widespread and publicly known. That ambiguity lends itself to fudging the facts and using fancy marketing lingo to make customers think they’re purchasing an ethically-sourced product. But that’s not quite good enough for us.

We source focal diamonds from a variety of vetted stone suppliers, but they all have one thing in common: they all comply with the diamond-related sanctions issued by the G7 nations, the European Union, and other applicable regulatory authorities. We maintain a Declaration of Diamond Provenance that ensures traceability and compliance with all sanctions and regulations within the OFAC prohibitions, WDC guidelines, and EU Regulation 833/2014 (Article 3P). This is a level of regulation that goes beyond the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, but does include those compliance requirements as well. 

In many cases, our diamonds and gemstones are custom cut for us by stone cutters Melanie personally knows. Her designs require specific calibration and accurate color matching, which is sometimes difficult to find without custom cutting. Whether earth-mined or lab-grown, sourcing gemstones has an inevitable impact on the environment. Being so heavily involved in the sourcing process means that our team, led by Melanie, can verify each supplier’s compliance with ethical sourcing or creation regulations. No stone goes unturned, if you’ll pardon the pun. 

In addition to diamonds and gemstones, Melanie Casey jewelry components, findings, and metals are also carefully sourced. Melanie’s rope chain design (including our signature diamond drop at the end of necklace and bracelet designs) is created custom to her exact specifications by one of our family-owned overseas partners. Our casting partner (who turns Melanie’s 3D CAD designs into gold settings) is local to our Andover studio and has been a partner of ours since the very beginning. As gold prices continue to rise and as our earth’s natural resources continue to be depleted, it’s important to us to use recycled gold whenever possible. 

Clasps, jump rings, earring backs, and other findings are all sourced with intention. Sometimes, Melanie’s design requires hand-fabrication of these elements, which is done by our in-studio team.

An important distinction: ethics and morals. “Ethics”, as it’s used in the marketing of fine jewelry, generally means doing the bare minimum. As we stated above, many companies can claim to be ethical because it is, ultimately, a meaningless word. Without publicly-known regulations and transparency into how brands comply with them, anyone can claim to be ethical jewelry makers. So take all of these claims with a grain of salt, and also consider the morals of the business. Do they treat their team and partners well? Are they obsessed with customer satisfaction and willing to go above and beyond for their clients? Do they know not only the name of the jeweler who made your piece, but their kids’ names and dog’s birthday?

There’s a reason Melanie Casey Jewelry has been named to Inc Magazine’s Best in Business award recipient list as well as their independently verified Best Workplaces list (not to mention the Inc 5000 list). There’s a reason we are members in good standing of the Ethical Metalsmiths community and the Manufacturing Jewelers & Suppliers of America. The reason is that we care. We care that our business practices matter and should be handled with intention and integrity. We care that the investment you’re making in beautiful, wearable art shouldn’t come alongside a feeling of guilt about its impact on the environment. We are always striving to be not only ethically sound but also morally correct. 

Ethical jewelry is not an oxymoron, in spite of the jargon and lingo that is often used to make you confused and falsely confident. We know you care as much as we do about sourcing and manufacturing processes, so thank you for taking the time to learn about Melanie Casey Jewelry’s ethical and moral point of view. We hope it helps, and we cannot wait to craft your perfect piece, from our hands to yours.

There’s a reason Melanie Casey Jewelry has been named to Inc Magazine’s Best in Business award recipient list as well as their Best Workplaces list (not to mention the Inc 5000 list). There’s a reason we are members in good standing of the Ethical Metalsmiths community and the Manufacturing Jewelers & Suppliers of America. The reason is that we care. We care that our business practices matter and should be handled with intention and integrity. We care that the investment you’re making in beautiful, wearable art shouldn’t come alongside a feeling of guilt about its impact on the environment. We are always striving to be not only ethically sound, but also morally correct. 

Ethical jewelry is not an oxymoron, in spite of the jargon and lingo that is often used to make you confused and falsely confident. We know you care as much as we do about sourcing and manufacturing processes, so thank you for taking the time to learn about Melanie Casey Jewelry’s ethical and moral point of view. We hope it helps, and we cannot wait to craft your perfect piece, from our hands to yours.