Natalia Rafi Blog -July 2021- Fast Fashion & Hallmarks
Mass Produced Jewellery
Many fashion brands are guilty of encouraging their consumers to fall into the fast fashion trap. They sell mass produced items (often for a premium) with descriptions such as “Silver Vermeil” or “Gold Coloured”, This often means that a cheaper metal (like copper/brass) has been electroplated with silver/gold.
Fast forward 6 months and your precious new ring starts to turn your finger green, the base metal starts to show through and that is the end of that one………
Impact Of Fast Fashion Jewellery On Environment
It is no big secret that fast fashion has a negative effect on the environment. The worlds consumers are calling for higher sustainability standards, products that will last a lifetime or that can at least be recycled time and time again. Our oceans are already choking on a plague of manmade waste, and will most likely become nothing more than rubbish dumps as our actions slowly destroy the worlds flora and fauna.
The jewellery industry plays their part in this gloomy saga by creating products that are unlikely to be recycled, plated metals, and plastics find their way to landfill because trends change, plating wears, poorly made mass produced jewellery breaks, and they no longer have a value. In addition to this, plating uses harmful chemicals, that will in no doubt at some point be washed into the worlds oceans.
But how do I know what I am buying?
UK hallmarks tell us all that we need to know about precious metal jewellery, you will find that in most cases if there is no hallmark, the metal is likely to be substandard.
So what is a hallmark?
A Hallmark is a set of marks that are applied to precious metals, these marks are a sign that the product that you are purchasing conforms to UK purity standards.
The standard hallmark formation is flat with minimal spacing between the marks. The law applies to everything SOLD in the UK, regardless of where it might have been manufactured, with the only exceptions being items which fall beneath the specified weights, which are:
1 gram for gold,
7.78 grams for silver
0.5 grams for platinum
1 gram for palladium.
But what does it all mean?
• Sponsor’s Mark: This is also known as the Maker’s mark. This is the mark of the brand which submitted the article for hallmarking. Ours is our logo in a hexagon (you will see this on all of our jewellery).
• Assay Office Mark: This Assay Office Mark tells you which Assay Office hallmarked and tested the article.
• Date Letter Mark: It is a non-compulsory mark that changes at the end of every year.
• Millesimal fineness Mark: This mark tells the type of metal, the quality of metal, as well as indicating how fine the metal is.
Natalia Rafi Jewellery
Natalia Rafi Jewellery is a brand with a conscience, All of our Jewellery bears a UK hallmark meaning that Our clients can trust that they are investing in products that are made from solid precious metals.
our vision is to be an eco-conscious brand whilst providing luxury products that compliment the slow fashion movement.
With this in mind our research began, we wanted to find suppliers that shared our views no matter what the cost. Here's how we're getting on so far:
Our precious metals are mostly recycled or can be traced back to a mine where stringent environmental and ethical checks are in place.
Our gemstones are either purchased from small suppliers (worldwide), local to ethical mines, or from two UK based gemstone suppliers that have policies meeting our environmental expectations.
Our packaging is approx 70% recycled (I know there is still room for improvement here).
We are not perfect yet and although by law we could easily call ourselves “eco-friendly” we believe that there is still a little room for improvement, and we shall continue to strive to lower our carbon footprint wherever possible.
Check us out here