By: Morgane Nzelemona, Account management Specialist at the Alliance for Responsible Mining
If you are thinking about becoming a Fairmined licensed brand, some of these questions may have popped into your head: should we change our entire gold sourcing and only source Fairmined gold? Or should we offer Fairmined as an option, offering our clients alternatives? Can we continue to buy other types of gold, once we obtain the Fairmined license?
This blog entry aims to help you find the path that best fits your business. Fairmined is a flexible model because we want to make it as easy as possible for you to work with gold to be proud of. Here is a small overview of the alternatives offered by Fairmined, including their perks and limitations.
Fairmined as a customization option
Numerous jewelry brands offer the possibility to create one-of-a-kind pieces. Clients can choose between gem colors and origin, gold alloys, diamond cuts, settings and engravings. Every element can be personalized so that the jewelry piece becomes more special and meaningful.
Give your customer the possibility to make their jewels truly unique by letting them choose the origin of their gold, and offer them the Fairmined option. Such an offer could be an easy way to test the success of the Fairmined gold, assess the receptivity to the Fairmined story among your clients, and raise awareness about the importance of ethical gold sourcing. By doing so, you give your clients the power to impact the lives of hundreds of miners and their families. In addition, this is an excellent way to experiment with Fairmined on a small scale.
Nevertheless, your impact on the mining communities might be limited until you manage to convince your clients of the added value of Fairmined gold. An important effort of education will need to be made to raise awareness among your customers to inform them about the challenges of the gold supply chain and the importance to engage with the ASM sector.
Incorporate Fairmined gold as part of your gold sourcing
You want to make an impact as soon as possible, but you don’t want to (or can’t) change your production chain? Our tip: incorporate the Fairmined certified metals into your sourcing mix.
That means that you purchase Fairmined gold from one of the Fairmined authorized suppliers and then mix it with the rest of the gold you use. There are no minimum purchase requirements, so you can choose the share of Fairmined certified gold in your gold sourcing: 10%, 50% or even 100%.
In this case, you won’t be able to claim that a product or a collection is made of Fairmined gold. However, you can still give evidence of your contribution to the transformation of the artisanal and small-scale mining sector, as you generate the same impact on the mining communities. Incorporating Fairmined gold is an easy way to strengthen your responsible gold sourcing policy.
Launch Fairmined exclusive collections
Another excellent way to start is to make a test with a collection. You could choose to use Fairmined gold for one of your bestseller collections or create a limited edition. By doing so, you will be able to associate the Fairmined story with specific products. This way, you will add a unique emotional value to these pieces, allowing your clients to connect with the communities at the origins of this collection. It is also a great way to test the implementation of the Fairmined traceability rules at a small scale. It will allow you to start working with one of our authorized suppliers or convince one of your current suppliers to use Fairmined gold. The impact of such a collection on the mining communities will vary, depending on the volume of pieces produced. Still, it is a great way to give a unique dimension to one of your collections and to make a stepwise transition towards responsible sourcing.
Don’t wait and participate in #theFairmined100 challenge, which invites brands to create new Fairmined collections and provides you with unique benefits!
Go 100% Fairmined Labeled
This is the bold move, for those that are totally convinced of what’s the best way for them and the mining communities: going 100% Fairmined labeled.
It is the best way to demonstrate your full commitment to the mining communities’ transformation and allows you to make clear statements about the origins of your gold. You can guarantee your customers that every ounce of gold you use has been mined under responsible conditions and is generating a positive impact.
This change is powerful, but it can also be challenging, if you don’t have complete control of your production process or if you still have a lot of stock. Changing your gold sourcing may imply some extra efforts, as you will need to review the entire production chain to make sure that the Fairmined gold won’t get mixed with other sources of gold. It is also a path towards excellence, as you will be able to offer a more transparent supply chain and extra guarantees to your customers. In this process, you will find the support of our team and authorized suppliers that will be happy to guide you all along the way.
This exigent path might require you to reinvent part of your supply chain, find new providers and solve technical challenges to guarantee that 100% of your gold is Fairmined. But it is also a unique way to show unconditional support to miners and your adhesion to the best standards in terms of production practices.
Do a little bit of everything:
You liked various of the options we offer you? No problem, you can also combine approaches. As a Fairmined licensed brand, you are free to use different sourcing models and integrate the Fairmined gold as you see fit.
Simply choose the path(s) that best suits your practices!
