Why is designer jewelry so expensive?
“I’m shopping for a diamond engagement ring, and my girlfriend really seems to like the idea of designer jewelry, but it seems so expensive to me, compared to designs which look extremely similar. Is there an actual benefit to buying a designer engagement ring, or am I simply paying a premium for a name? Some of the designer jewelry that we’ve seen costs as much as the amount that I had originally intended to spend on the entire engagement ring! Others are a bit more affordable, only costing about half as much as the diamond center stone! Are designer rings worth the money? Or am I just paying a bundle for a name inscribed on the inside of the ring? To make matters worse, I don’t even know which jewelry designer to go with, the kitchen table is covered in bridal magazines, which are littered with tabs made out of yellow post-it notes. Who knew that buying a simple halo setting would be so difficult.”
Hold the Phone! Get the Designer Look Without the Cost:
In many cases, the high price of designer jewelry is so expensive, simply because you’re paying for a name, a name which has been artificially popularized by the onslaught of costly advertising in bridal, gossip, and fashion magazines. One extremely popular brand of hand engraved designer jewelry that we’re aware of pays to advertise in more than thirty bridal magazines per month!
Do you have any idea how much a full page advertisement in a magazine like Cosmopolitan? According to their 2015 rate sheet, it costs $268,515.00 for full color. Now who do you think ultimately pays the price to advertise designer jewelry in all of the most popular magazines? And trust me, you don’t even want to know how much it costs to rent space for a booth at a trade show! One of the designers who we know paid a quarter of a million dollars for the design and construction of their two story booth which was built out of mahogany, and that didn’t include the cost of renting the space for the week!
Incredibly, the majority of designer jewelry that we see is not unique in design, nor truly special in any way. So yes, in the majority of cases, we feel that you’re paying a premium for a name, a designer label which is hidden from sight, tucked away on the inside of the ring shank, but it gives your girlfriend bragging rights of sorts, for whatever that is worth. But so does being a savvy shopper and buying a halo setting from Brian Gavin, ending up with a setting that is custom made to fit whatever Brian Gavin Signature diamond selected, with precision cut accent diamonds that sparkle just as incredibly as the center stone, and keeping more money in your pocket!
To be fair however, not all designer jewelry is over-priced, because not all jewelry designers use expensive advertising media to build the popularity of their brand, this is the case with two of the designers we work with here at Brian Gavin, and I think you’ll find that the designs offered by Sholdt, Jeff Cooper, and Furrer Jacot, are pretty fairly priced, it is one of the reasons we decided to bring them on. Of course if you want to pay a fair price for a piece of designer jewelry that is truly one-of-a-kind, you could always have a ring custom designed by Brian Gavin based upon your specifications, and that comes with the honor of getting to name the ring after your very special lady!
