Vicenzaoro September 2021: Natural or Synthetic Voice to the Youngest

“The decisions of top players in the sector depend more and more on indulging the desire of a young public who live almost exclusively online,” is a sentence from the article “Gen Z: The Driving Generation,” published in the recent VO+ September issue, Shifting. The article goes on to say: “The Olympus of luxury and, consequently, of jewelry, is undergoing a veritable revolution, towed along primarily by the young people belonging to Generation Z, the most studied consumers of recent years.” Always up to date with the real trends, not only in the jewelry market but also in the society in which we live, the Vicenzaoro September trade show just had to bring into play the voice of the younger generations. Representing them was Laura Inghirami, entrepreneur and founder of Donna Jewel, who, during the talk entitled “Natural diamond and synthetic diamond amid order and chaos,” explained the results of a qualitative survey conducted on a sample of about 220 Millennials and Generation Z individuals. The aim was to understand their perception of diamond and their preference between natural and synthetic. The following emerged. While almost all of the participants (95%) declared that sustainability and ethics are generally extremely important, over 90% of those interviewed were not aware of the issues of ethical sustainability in terms of diamonds. Only for those who were aware of these issues does the origin of gems become a relevant factor in their choice. 60% of the sample would choose natural diamond due to the emotional value that wearing an authentic and rare product of nature gives, 5% preferred synthetic diamond considering it a more sustainable and/or affordable product, while 35% expressed indifference. It is exactly this segment of the public that calls for greater reflection. The reason for this indifference is due to a lack of adequate information on the subject. «We need to continue to inform, educate and sensitize the new generations in regard to diamond and the sustainability and ethical themes linked to it to give them the necessary tools to be able to choose between natural and synthetic diamond in a much more conscious way,» concludes Inghirami.