The movie is a fictionalized story set within a seemingly accurate depiction of how diamonds were mined and sold to finance civil war in Sierra Leone and Liberia in the late 1990′s.

Jewelry retailers tend to despise this movie. The reason for their hatred is that the movie came out just before Christmas of 2006 and is believed to have weakened sales during the holiest of retail holidays. To be fair, the movie does not make it clear that it is portraying past, not current, events; or that much has been done since the nineties to track diamonds and prohibit conflict stones from entering the market.

The Kimberley Process was developed in 2000 by South African diamond-producing states as a method of tracking shipments of rough diamonds using tamper-resistant packaging along with forgery-resistant documentation denoting country-of-origin (i.e. where the diamonds were mined), total carat weight, value in USD, shipper and recipient identities, and other specifics. The 75 member countries may only do business with other participants of the Process. These countries are responsible for upholding the Process of their own accord and if they fail to do so, they are subject to expulsion. Though not 100% foolproof, the Kimberley Process has diminished the percentage of hot stones on the market down to less than one percent (KP’s figure).

Once a diamond is cut, it is similarly tracked with what’s called a System of Warranties. The question the World Diamond Council suggests we ask sellers is, Do your diamond suppliers participate in the System of Warranties?

As an added measure of buyer security, in 2003 the US passed the Clean Diamond Trade Act in which Kimberely Process guidelines are enforced by US Customs and ICE.

Some jewelry brands, like those I discussed on the About page, make their ethical or green policies an integral part of their marketing strategies. In this case, we know before we buy; we buy because we know. But the number of retailers and suppliers spotlighting their own transparency is small–growing–but small. So for the many sellers who are not advertising the fact that their product is fair trade, etc., what are they selling? Where does their product come from? Does the lack of forthrightness these sellers offer make their product less desirable? What are those claiming to be ethical really doing that makes their policy “ethical”?

There are questions we can and should be asking all sellers. At a talk I attended given by Jennifer Horning of the Ethical Metalsmiths, she described an interaction she had with a self-proclaimed “green” jeweler. Horning asked this woman what was green about her business. The woman replied that because she lives nearby, she walks from her house to her manufacturer. OK, so the woman’s business is more green (mostly due to her likely small production) than a company producing overseas, which is creating carbon emissions by way of shipping. Maybe that’s good enough. When you’re the one buying, you get to decide. The point is to get the information you need to feel confident about your purchase.

The focus of Bread & Roses for the foreseeable future will be naming the questions you need to get the information you want.

Nicer would be the notion, that maybe others have similar interests in jewelry, or more likely have questions about their own jewelry and future jewelry purchases.

Answer me this: Do you think about where your jewelry comes from? Would you be interested in knowing?