Contact us: +57(4) 332 47 11
Riva: A company driving the change towards responsible jewelry.
By: Laura Galvis Market Development Specialist at the Alliance for Responsible Mining
Riva: A company driving the change towards responsible jewelry.
The last few years have brought us a lot of challenges, but also the urge to live the best live we can. This has gotten us questioning our lives’ decisions a lot more and with that, our purchasing decisions. A growing interest from licensed brands, specially in the US market, has given visibility to the challenges brands have when trying to source all the materials they need in Fairmined metals, an opportunity that took RIVA Precision closer to their responsible and ethical goals since joining the Fairmined initiative in 2018.
A few weeks into the launch of their findings and manufacturing services (the first findings and components to ever be available in Fairmined gold except for gold chains), we reached out to the RIVA team for an interview to celebrate their upcoming projects and most recent launches. RIVA’s Fairmined offering is continuously expanding, they now supply cable chains, paper clip chains, lobster clasps, earring hooks, casting and full manufacturing services. With this, Fairmined licensed brands located in the US, will be able to find complete contract manufacturing, from CAD to casting to assembly to polishing to finishing (and include the use of findings), everything under one roof.
Photo by RIVA Precision Manufacturing
RIVA Precision Manufacturing, Inc. was founded in 1988 in New York, NY, by Ted Doudak and a friend. They started the company in a basement in Brooklyn, hunched over their benches and working well into the wee hours of the morning. Now, more than 33 years later, RIVA is a vertically-integrated manufacturing and product development institution that employs some of the most talented and highly-skilled artisans and jewelers, serving some of the most discerning and coveted customers in the industry. RIVA’s journey from the start was one full of hope, dedication, perseverance, and a strong sense of family, and these are still the exact same values they live by to this very day. The company has been through tough times—from the the early ’90s recession to closing up during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last 2020—but because of the values that they hold strong, they have been able to overcome each time.
Laura Galvis: What is RIVA’s unique value proposition?
RIVA: What makes RIVA unique from others is that it is a family-owned and family-run business. CEO Ted Doudak’s wife Faye Doudak and their children are now involved in multiple aspects of the business. They treat employees like family, and they foster a very open, very intimate work environment. Because of this, we have employees that have been in the company—more than 20 years, more than 15 years, etc.
Another differentiator is that we now serve multiple designer/retail customers—whereas before we focused on two-three customers, now RIVA has opened up the door for and offers their services to multiple customers to help the jewelry industry grow.
Add to this, that we provide contract manufacturing services– we are now also offering White Label jewelry collections to designers, brands, retailers outside our contract manufacturing client base (RIVA’s White Label offerings were launched last 2021, we launched a collection of chains in Fairmined yellow gold served as the inaugural collection from that catalog). All our processes are done in-house, so we are able to ensure the quality stays consistent and the turnaround times are kept low and deadlines are consistently met.
And finally, we are committed to focusing on ethical sourcing and sustainability.
LG: What have been RIVA’s main challenges?
RIVA: One of the main challenges for us was the shifting of our business model, from an exclusivity-centric one to a multi-customer one. It was a challenge making that transition, because for so many years we had only two or so major clients. When we opened the door for more designers and retailers, a structural shift was necessary, but we were able to adapt over time by d building a strong product development team.
Another main challenge, which we still face to this very day, is achieving a sustainable and ethically sourced supply chain. In jewelry-making, there are many variables involved, and so this is not something that happens overnight. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, commitment, research. Thankfully, we have organizations like the Alliance for Responsible Mining to help us with this initiative, and because of that we are off to a good start.
LG: What made you think about the origin of the materials, especially gold. What triggered the idea of ethical sourcing?
We have always had corporate social responsibility practices, and for a long time we engaged in social programs and philanthropy. After some time, we realized all that was not enough. So we made a decision to work towards achieving a sustainable and ethically sourced supply chain. First, we started using recycled gold and recycled sterling silver, but quickly acknowledged that using recycled metal exclusively is not enough–the company could not afford to exclude all small-scale and artisanal miners just to minimize risks of abuses in the supply chain. So a decision was made to also source from responsible small-scale and artisanal mines.
LG: What were your goals when joining the Fairmined initiative?
We were planning to create our white label jewelry collections, and we decided it wasn’t enough to use recycled precious metals from SCS-certified companies. We needed to add newly mined gold as well, but we wanted it to be from responsible small-scale and artisanal miners. The goal was not just to offer Fairmined gold, but to educate our customers about the Fairmined Initiative as well. The goal was to become not just a supplier, but an advocate. and now we are happy to report that, in the first quarter of 2022 alone, the company was able to introduce more than three dozen designers and retailers to the Fairmined Initiative; many of them have since become (or are now in the process of becoming) Fairmined-licensed brands. We feel proud of promoting the use of traceable Fairmined gold.
With increasing regularity, potential customers come to RIVA and ask us about ethical sourcing. And because of our commitment in advancing the Fairmined Initiative, we are more than happy to regale them with stories about the initiative, the mines, and the amazing customer support we receive from ARM
LG: What would you tell others about Fairmined if they have never heard of us before?
Thankfully, there has been a palpable shift in the industry, and these days it is not hard to convince designers and retailers to consider ethical sourcing of gold since most of them are already aware of or have already started to commit to this promising practice– With increasing regularity, potential customers come to RIVA and ask us about ethical sourcing. And because of our commitment in advancing the Fairmined Initiative, we are more than happy to regale them with stories about the initiative, the mines, and the amazing customer support we receive from ARM. And now that the RIVA team is planning to go on a trip to visit Fairmined mines in Peru, we will be coming back equipped with even more stories to share with our customers!
Do you have any questions about this article? Please write us to info@fairmined.org.
Want to join the Fairmined Initiative?
