The best ethical jewellery brands to shop in 2024

Shop guilt-free jewellery

best ethical jewellery brands
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Ethical jewellery, like ethical fashion, has come a long, stylish way to deliver feel-good pieces without a side of guilt.

It's always tempting to impulse buy affordable trend-led pieces, but it would be a little counter-productive. For starters, you might fall out of love with them in a season, but more importantly, you don't know how they're made.

If you want to change the way you shop and invest in some pieces that will last and have been consciously sourced and made, you've come to the right place.

What is ethical jewellery?

In a nutshell, it's jewellery that has no negative impact on the people who make it, or the environment they're produced in. That can mean:

  • Using materials you can trace back to the source, to ensure they've been produced in an ethical way, eg, fair trade materials and conflict-free diamonds
  • Using recycled materials, such as gemstones
  • Using lab-grown diamonds
  • Not using child labour and ensuring fair wages and working hours
  • Not using practices that pollute or impact the environment in a negative way

What are ethical diamonds?

When you are buying mined diamonds, you want to be able to fully trace their origins, to make sure they don't come from areas controlled by rebels, who then use the money to buy weapons or finance war activities.

You want to make sure the jeweller you are buying from adheres to the Kimberley Process, which ensures that exported diamonds are conflict-free (thanks to this, 99.8% of diamonds were certified conflict-free in 2023). Don't be afraid to ask them questions about provenance. It's worth doing your own research, as certain countries known for exporting diamonds don't necessarily adhere to strict labor laws or environmentally-friendly practices.

You can also go down the antique route as you're effectively recycling an older diamond, though you won't be guaranteed that they have come from a conflict-free region or were mined responsibly.

Being conflict-free doesn't mean diamonds are ethical, as you want to make sure the workers are paid fair wages, work a fair number of hours. Diamond mining can also have a negative impact on the environment, such as high air pollution and deforestation, so it's worth asking your jeweller about that too.

Lab-grown diamonds

More and more jewellery brands are venturing into lab grown diamonds. Pandora launched its first collection in 2021 to great success, whilst brands such as Lark & Berry, Leo & Lumi and Kimai all focus on creating jewellery with man-made diamonds.

There is still some confusion around the process, with many people unsure as to whether lab-grown diamonds are real diamonds. The short answer is yes. In fact, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference, as the quality is the same: think carat, cut, colour and clarity. They are created in a rough uncut form, and then cut and polished into shape, much like a mined diamond. More importantly, there is no doubt they are ethically and sustainably sourced.

Lab-grown diamonds also tend to be a little cheaper than mined diamonds, as you are cutting out the mining process so there is less of a mark-up.

Shop the best ethical jewellery brands:

Want to know where to shop some beautiful ethical jewellery brands? From Missoma to Kimai, Idyl to Roxanne First, scroll down to treat yourself to some of our favourites (in no particular order). 

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.

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