Namas te Jewels

Archive for November, 2011

Vein Wear is Australia’s number one men’s footwear designer. Vein, by designer Christopher McCallum, has been recognised as the shoe of choice by Australia’s top clothing houses.  Vein opened its Winter season with the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival main parades Morrisey, Kenzo and Leopold.

Vein shoes were the natural footwear selection for Always Habit when they won the coveted Australian Design Awards in November 2005.  Always Habit designs are for savvy young professional men.  They are looking for a striking shoe to compliment their casual and suiting attire.  Vein provides that.

Vein shoes were the footwear of choice when high flying Aussie labels “Leopold” and “Tom, Dick and Harry” unveiled their Winter collections at Mercedes Australian Fashion Week.  The parades were stand-outs with both collections attracting critical acclaim.

When Vein launched its Winter 2006 collection at the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival in March there was no question which shoes should be worn with the three pinnacle men’s collections of the season.  Main parades Morrisey, Kenzo and Leopold chose to accompany first class designs with Australian designer shoes by Vein.

“The fashion festival is definitely the highest point yet in our rise in Australian designer fashion.  Morrisey is an idol and an icon.  To be worn on the foot of his, Kenzo and Leopold’s collections is a great honour.  I know our shoes do their clothing justice”, says McCallum.

At the upcoming Mercedes Australian Fashion Week Vein will be working closely with hot men’s label Red Cordial.  Retailers, stylists and other fashion industry participants can also see a preview of Vein’s Summer 06/7 collection at MAFW’s Source Exhibition at the end of April.

“At Vein we are delighted to work with clothing designers.  Footwear does not steal the limelight at fashion parades, but a designer collection show is too important to leave footwear up to models, friends or God forbid resort to pluggers”, says McCallum.

Diamond certificates from independent organizations such as the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) provide a diamond grading report, that gives you valuable information about the 4 C’s that were taken into consideration when the diamond was priced.  It’s important that you use an outside source for diamond certificates, instead of the jeweler who is selling the diamond you are interested in, because the jeweler wants to make money on the sale of the diamonds, the certificates may be slightly biased and you could be paying more than the market value of the diamond.

Reasons to have Diamond Certificates

When you go to a jewelry store, or consider making a purchase from an online retailer, the jewelry that has diamond certificates tends to sell for several hundred dollars more than diamonds that are graded the same that are without certificates.  This is because the jeweler recognizes that they typically grade their diamonds one level better than an independent grading organization, like the Gemological Institute of America.  The GIA is more conservative when grading diamonds because they do not gain anything from diamond sales.

Pay the Right Price for your Diamond

Diamonds are valued according to their quality based on a grading system that makes use of the 4 C’s.  You should receive diamond certificates (also called grading reports) from independent companies rather than a jeweler, to insure that your getting an unbiased reporting of the value of the diamond.  Otherwise, you could be paying much more for your diamond than what the diamond is actually worth.

Protecting Your Investment

Diamonds are not the same kind of investment as buying stocks and bonds, but having diamond certificates gives you a better investment than just having the diamond.  Diamond certificates make it easier to sell a diamond in the future, because you have documentation of how much the diamond is worth and why it was valued that amount.  In fact, if you attempt to sell diamonds without having diamond certificates, most dealers will not buy from you and you would end up having a certificate drawn up anyway, so you may as well have a certificate grading report created at the time of purchase, for your current protection as well as future possibilities for selling.

Increased Security during Cleanings and Repairs

Many people hesitate to bring their jewelry into the jeweler’s when they’re in need of repair services or cleaning.  It makes people wonder how they’ll know for sure that they’ve received the same diamond back that they brought in.  It is an extremely rare occurrence for a jeweler to purposely switch diamonds, however it could happen unintentionally.   Diamond certificates act as an additional security measure in this case.  They are like fingerprints stored in police databases; they contain all the data needed to match the person to the fingerprints, and diamond certificates have enough information on the diamond to match the diamond with the certificate and the owner.

If you are in the jewelry business or thinking about getting into the jewelry business, you need to find jewelry wholesale sources. Finding these sources
isn’t as difficult as you might think – they are everywhere, and if you have access to the Internet, you literally have the world of jewelry wholesale at
your fingertips.

There are many wholesale company directories available online, but you really don’t have to purchase these to find the jewelry wholesale companies. Instead, use the search engine and type ‘jewelry wholesale companies’ or ‘jewelry wholesale suppliers’ into the search box. This is the easiest, and cheapest way to find jewelry wholesale sources.

Start making a list of sources. You can do this on notepad or in a spreadsheet. Keep up with which company has the best prices on certain items, shipping costs, contact information, and any other information you may need in the course of doing business.

Don’t forget the online auctions, and remember that eBay isn’t the only online auction either! Keep your eyes open for great deals on jewelry, and make bulk purchases when you can.