Top Jewelry Trends of 2022 & 2023

De Beers has spent the last eighty years selling diamonds at a huge markup, making the high price a part of the sales pitch and now they're selling a competing product for 80% less. Given their reliance on high prices, why sell lab-grown diamonds—and why sell them at such a discount?

While lab-grown diamonds are currently a small share of the overall market at around 2%, they're much cheaper than natural ones, and can only be distinguished using specialized equipment.

It's not the first time De Beers has faced the problem of increased supply. In the 1960s, Russia began mining diamonds in earnest; their diamonds were smaller than African diamonds, but the sheer supply threatened to overwhelm the market—so De Beers started marketing non-ring jewelry with smaller diamonds as a way to control market perception and keep their core business safe.

This time around, with lab-grown diamonds, De Beers can once again separate the market for engagement diamonds, protecting it from an increase in supply—and by choosing their own marketing messaging, and a low price-point, they can emphasize price rather than sustainability, obviating awkward questions about conflict minerals.

One very clever trick some diamond marketers, like the company Brilliant Earth, use on Facebook: targeting unmarried women with ads focused on getting them to share their partner's email under the pretense of dropping a hint. "Dreaming of the perfect ring? Click "Drop a Hint" on any item on our site to share your favorite ring styles." The most clever part of this campaign is that once they have the email address, advertisers can target the partner with ads for engagement rings. This solves the key problem in selling diamond rings: the person who wants the product is not the person who buys it. By convincing people who want diamonds to hand over the email addresses of the person who could buy them one, diamond companies outsource the engagement-ultimatum to a globally distributed team of copywriters, digital ad buyers, and conversion-optimization experts.

While many jewelry trends are driven by celebrity dynamics, the rise of flat back earrings is rooted in pure consumer behavior.

The backside of traditional earrings is typically not flat, so wearers often remove the earrings before sleep to avoid discomfort. This takes time though, and the average number of earrings per ear is on the rise, exacerbating the issue.

As the digital products we use every day increasingly compete for every minute of our attention, the products that buy us more time are increasingly valuable. Flat-back earrings address this and are touted as more convenient because the flat backs make them more comfortable to wear while sleeping. This frees up time, both before bed and after rising, making flat-back earrings not only a comfort product but also a time-saving product.

Pierced ears are getting more popular over time; over 30% of Americans born since the mid-70s have at least one piercing, compared to under 10% for people born in the 60s or earlier.

One of the adjacent trends to flat-back earrings is the growth in piercings for kids and even babies. Many parents with earrings want their kids to wear them too, but worry that traditional earrings may hurt or irritate sensitive skin. Since flat back earrings—also sold as "safety back earrings" or "sleeping earrings" on Amazon—are safer to apply, they're often a parent's first choice. And since 14% of the US is under the age of ten, making earrings available to this younger demographic means tapping into parents’ spending power while expanding the overall market—and potentially getting new customers for life.

While religion is declining, spirituality is not. Specifically, membership in organized religion in the US has dropped from 70% in the 90s to 50% today, but interest in spirituality is as strong as ever. Meditation has grown from 4% of the population in 2012 to 14% five years later, and astrology is a $2 billion business. Depending on the social circle, “What’s your astrology sign” is nearly as common a question as “what do you do for a living?”

One of the fastest-growing categories of new spirituality is witchcraft, which has shed some of its darker connotations and turned into a massive online community. And just as many religions have adjacent industries supporting donations, religious events, spiritual books, and other goods, witchcraft has led to growing sales of products like obsidian crystals. Unlike more established religions, witches do not have tax-advantaged status, so they focus more on selling products and services. And since there isn't a central source of doctrine or an established set of traditions, things that religions would be reluctant to monetize can still be offered for a price.

One of the biggest channels for discussing witchcraft is TikTok, where the "Witchtok" tag has 18.7 billion views, making it far more popular than many mainstream hobbies like surfing (3.1 billion) or hiking (2.8 billion).

The growth of crystals as a category has led to changes in other industries: some jewelers are switching from traditional jewelry to crystals and doing weekly tarot readings, while Amazon volume for crystals has skyrocketed. Meanwhile, crystal sellers are starting to distinguish themselves through ethical sourcing: many crystals are mined in places like Myanmar and the Congo. Like with diamonds, some crystal sellers are switching to lab-grown varieties to satisfy customers who demand transparent and ethical supply chains.