We make jewellery in recycled 18 carat gold. So we could write “ethical jewellery” everywhere and move on. We are not going to. Because the word “ethical” has no legal definition in jewellery. Because recycled gold does not guarantee everything people credit it with. And because a customer who understands what she is buying is a customer who comes back. Here is what can be verified, what cannot, and how to tell the difference.

“Ethical” is not a regulated claim

Let us start with the point that changes everything. In jewellery, some claims are controlled by law. Others are not.

“Gold 750 parts per thousand” is a controlled claim. It corresponds to a precise fineness, proven by a hallmark, verifiable by a test. Lying about it is an offence. “925 silver” is controlled too. So is “vermeil”, with a legally defined minimum thickness of gold plating.

“Ethical” is none of that. Neither is “responsible”, nor “sustainable”, nor “eco-friendly”, nor “conscious”. Not one of these words comes with a set of specifications, a supervisory body or a penalty. Any brand can start using them tomorrow morning without changing a thing in its production.

This is not an indictment. It is practical information. When you read “ethical jewellery” on a product page, you are not reading a guarantee. You are reading an intention. So the useful question becomes: what does this brand state that is actually verifiable?

What recycled gold does not guarantee

Recycled gold is our main material. We are glad of it. That does not excuse us from naming its limits, which are real and documented.

First, traceability is lost in the melt. Reclaimed gold comes from old jewellery, workshop scrap, industrial waste and electronic waste. All of it goes to the refinery. Refining brings the metal back to fine gold, 999.9 parts per thousand. What comes out the other side gives you no way to tell a gold atom from an old wedding band apart from a gold atom out of a mine. That is excellent for quality. It is irreversible for traceability. A house that promises you recycled gold “fully traced back to source” is promising something metallurgy does not allow.

Second, this is not an innovation. The industry has always recycled gold. Gold is far too expensive to throw away. Workshop scrap has been going back into the crucible for centuries, and a large share of the world's gold in circulation has already been melted down several times. Presenting recycling as a recent revolution is a marketing shortcut. It is an old good practice, brought back into the spotlight.

Third, recycling does not automatically reduce mining. This is the most uncomfortable point. Global demand for gold is driven above all by investment and central banks, not by designer jewellery. A small house buying recycled gold does not cause a mine to close. It simply avoids adding to the demand for newly mined gold. It is a real gesture, but a modest one, and it should be presented at its true scale.

Why we use recycled 18 carat gold anyway

Three reasons, stated plainly.

The first is material. Refined recycled gold is strictly identical to mined gold. Same fineness of 750 parts per thousand, same eagle's head hallmark, same hardness, same value. So we sacrifice nothing on the quality of the piece. It is a choice that costs the customer nothing.

The second is logical. Between two materials that are identical at the end of the process, one of which requires digging up the earth and the other does not, the choice makes itself. Even if the overall effect is modest, it goes the right way.

The third is more interesting. The real environmental lever in a piece of jewellery is how long it lasts. A piece worn for twenty years and repaired twice has a far lower impact than three disposable pieces bought over five years. That is why we work in recycled 18 carat gold rather than gold plating: plated pieces end up in the bin once the layer wears through. We develop this reasoning in our article on the second life of old jewellery.

Legal markings, on the other hand, can be checked

Against vague words stand claims nobody can invent. Those are the ones to read.

The fineness of the metal. Gold 750 parts per thousand, silver 925 parts per thousand. It is written, it is hallmarked, and a professional can test it in store.

The guarantee hallmark. The eagle's head for 18 carat gold, Minerva for 925 silver. Note that gold pieces under 3 grams are exempt: they carry the maker's mark instead.

The maker's mark. This small lozenge says who made the piece. It commits a named party.

The stone certificate. An independent laboratory, IGI for instance, describes the stone and assigns it a number. That number is often laser inscribed on the girdle, and can be checked online.

The place of manufacture. A workshop address, a country, a name. That can be verified, unlike “made with love”.

These five items are worth more than ten adjectives. Our article on French quality explains what manufacturing in France means in practice.

RJC, Fairmined, Fairtrade and Kimberley: what they actually cover

Certification schemes exist, and they are better than nothing. Provided you know what they certify.

RJC, the Responsible Jewellery Council. This is a company certification, not a product certification. It audits a business against a code of practices. What it does not do: it does not tell you where the gold in your particular ring came from. It is also a body largely driven by the sector's big groups, a point its critics raise regularly.

Fairmined and Fairtrade Gold. These two schemes cover gold from artisanal and small-scale mines organised into cooperatives. They guarantee working conditions, controls on the use of mercury, and a premium paid to the community. Their strength is precisely what recycled gold lacks: an identified origin. Their limit is volume, very small on a global scale, and a real price premium.

The Kimberley Process. It certifies rough diamonds in order to prevent the financing of armed rebel groups. Its definition is narrow, and that is its main weakness. It does not cover violence committed by states, nor working conditions, nor environmental impact, nor what happens to the stone after cutting. A “Kimberley compliant” diamond is therefore not a diamond whose social history you know.

Remember this: a certification tells you what it has checked, never more. A brand that displays a logo without explaining its scope is counting on you not digging any further.

Spotting greenwashing in jewellery, six signals

None of these signals is proof on its own. Two or three together, however, call for caution.

1. Adjectives with no figures. “Sustainable”, “responsible”, “eco-designed”, repeated without a single piece of data, without a metal fineness, without a workshop name.

2. “Recycled gold” without saying which part. The whole piece, or only the band? The clasp too? A chain bought ready-made elsewhere is not covered by your commitments.

3. A promise of full traceability on recycled gold. As we have seen, that is physically impossible after refining.

4. A certification logo with no mention of scope. Certified for what, by whom, for which product, valid until when.

5. The “timeless, therefore green” argument. That is an aesthetic argument in disguise. A piece is not durable because it is beautiful, but because it can be repaired and because it is worn.

6. No after-sales service. A brand that talks about jewellery built to last but offers no repair, no resizing and no buy-back is contradicting itself.

The lab-grown diamond, assessed without flattery

We set lab-grown diamonds, white and coloured. They have genuine advantages, and one weak point that has to be named.

Their advantages are concrete. No excavation, no mine tailings, no displacement of communities. A known origin, since the stone is produced in an identified facility, which is clearer than the chain behind a mined diamond. And an independent laboratory certificate describing it, IGI in our case.

Their weak point is energy. Growing a diamond in a laboratory, by HPHT or by CVD, takes a great deal of electricity and high heat over several weeks. The real impact therefore depends massively on the energy mix of the producing country. A diamond grown on largely carbon-heavy electricity is not neutral, and nobody serious should present it as such. It is a question worth putting to the seller.

Our comparison of the environmental impact of natural and lab-grown diamonds sets out the orders of magnitude, and you can see the detail of our diamonds.

Five questions to ask a jeweller

Copy them, send them by email. The quality of the answers will tell you more than any “our commitments” page.

Where is the piece made? Expect a country and, ideally, a city or a workshop. “In Europe” is an evasive answer.

What is the exact fineness of the metal, and which hallmarks does the piece carry? A serious house answers in a few lines, without hesitating.

Does the stone have a certificate, from which laboratory, with which number? And can that number be checked online.

What exactly does the after-sales service cover? Resizing, retipping a claw, re-gilding a vermeil piece, replacing a stone. With or without a fee, and in what time frame.

Do you take jewellery back at the end of its life? A house that takes back its customers' gold to melt it down really does close the loop.

What to remember

Ethical jewellery does not exist as a legal category. What does exist are verifiable facts: a metal fineness, a hallmark, a numbered stone certificate, a place of manufacture, a repair service. Ask for those five things. If a brand answers precisely, its words carry weight. If it answers with adjectives, you know where you stand. This is the grid we apply to ourselves, and you can revisit it in our article on ethical and responsible jewellery.

Going further. On checking a stone in practice, read how to identify a lab-grown diamond. For what the legal fineness guarantees about the metal, see what 750 means on a piece of jewellery. And to read those marks on a real piece yourself, our Faubourg 1925 silver carries them where you can find them.

FAQ

How can you tell if jewellery is really ethical?

Do not look for the word, look for the proof. A hallmarked metal fineness, a numbered and verifiable stone certificate, a named place of manufacture, a detailed after-sales service. Those things can be checked. The word “ethical” cannot, because it is not regulated.

Is recycled gold really better for the environment?

It avoids one more extraction, which is a genuine benefit. But it does not automatically reduce global mining activity, which is driven above all by investment demand. And its traceability disappears at the refinery. It is a good choice, not a miracle solution.

Can you trace the origin of recycled gold?

No, not beyond the refiner. Once gold has been melted and brought back to 999.9 parts per thousand, it is chemically indistinguishable from any other gold. A brand that promises full traceability on recycled gold is promising the impossible.

What is the difference between the RJC, Fairmined and Fairtrade schemes?

The RJC certifies a company's practices, not a particular piece of jewellery. Fairmined and Fairtrade certify a specific gold, from artisanal mines organised into cooperatives, with regulated social conditions and a premium paid to the community. Fairmined and Fairtrade guarantee an origin, the RJC a management system.

Is the Kimberley Process enough to guarantee an ethical diamond?

No. Its sole aim is to prevent armed rebel groups being financed through rough diamonds. It says nothing about working conditions, state violence or environmental impact. It is a narrow filter, not an overall ethical guarantee.

Is a lab-grown diamond ethical by definition?

No. It avoids excavation and its origin is known, which is a serious advantage. But growing it consumes a lot of energy, and its footprint depends on the electricity mix of the country where it is grown. Ask the question rather than assuming.

Is it better to buy 925 silver or recycled 18 carat gold?

It depends on use. For a piece worn occasionally, 925 silver is a modest and perfectly sufficient choice. For a piece worn every day for years, recycled 18 carat gold lasts longer and repairs better, so it ages better. The most responsible choice is not always the most expensive one.

Fiona