Ethical jewellery - Looking good and doing good

Who doesn’t love a good necklace or a statement ring? Jewellery can transform your whole outfit. People say silver looks better on me, but I do what I want, so I rather wear gold. But where do you find fair trade gold or ethical jewellery at all?

Why fair and ethical jewellery?

There’s a problem with the jewellery industry. Well, in my opinion everything that ends with industry is a problem, such as pharmaceutical industry or fashion industry, but hey, that’s a totally different discussion. Here we’re talking about gold and silver. Those materials are very precious. And because there is always a demand on them, suppliers want to profit excessively. Therefore materials are most often unethically sourced, which leads to very unfair and unsafe situations.

To make a change, we need to make a change in our buying behaviour. First of all, we should always buy out of need, not out of want. Second of all, I believe buying second hand is the first option to try. Second hand jewellery, just as clothes, tell a story. I wear my mom’s ring every day and it makes me smile when I think of the fact she’s worn it when she was my age. If we cannot find what we are looking for second hand, we should look for ethical companies that can serve our demands in a fair way.

That’s why I decided to make this list.

When I first started researching ethical jewellery, I seriously did not know where to start. I always thought there are just so little brands that sell ethical and sustainable accessories. But after I asked you for some recommendations, a whole new world opened up to me. Especially after I found out, that there are so many cool brands from The Netherlands.

In this article I won’t discuss pieces that are on trend, or jewellery that you should wear. I just want to give you some input on where to find ethical jewellery. Because we have to remember, pieces are only beautiful, if there’s no story of slavery or corruption behind it.

I made two lists for you: one with brands from The Netherlands and one with brands from other countries.