Asian Jewelry
We have all gone online searching for certain products to buy and found them to be cheaper in Asia. Ebay, Amazon, Etsy are all full of Asian Jewelry manufacturers that easily undercut US manufacturers. There are 2 reasons for this: labor costs and quality. First, the average laborer in Asia makes a fraction of what they make in the west.
Asian Jewelry is made in sweat shops where man, women, and children work for pennies a day in horrible conditions. Second is the quality. Asian Jewelry is, if it even the metal you paid for, thin, lightweight, and of notoriously poor quality. But more often than not, your Sterling Silver isn’t Sterling and your 14K Gold isn’t 14K. Their gemstone record is even more atrocious. Such a high percentage of gemstones being used in Asian Jewelry isn’t even the species they claim or treated when they say it isn’t, or just plain glass, that they must be over there laughing at us dumb Westerners.
The Savings Aren’t Worth It
But on top of those problems are the health issues cheap Asian Jewelry can cause. A non-profit organization called The Ecology Center ran tests on 99 pieces of Asian Jewelry (some of which was for kids, but most of it was for adults) that were purchased from 14 different discount stores such from around the country, like Target, Claire’s, Glitter, Forever 21, Walmart, H&M, and Hot Topic. They checked each piece for dangerous things like lead, cadmium, chromium, nickel, brominated flame retardants, chlorine, mercury and arsenic. And, to no surprise, lots of the jewelry was full of the stuff.
Over half of the jewelry, all of which cost less than $20, had high levels of these hazardous materials, including 27 of the pieces which had lead levels that topped the 300 ppm limit for children’s products. 10% of the pieces had Cadmium, which is a toxic metal that’s been the subject of other jewelry and toy recalls.
Is saving a little bit of money on Asian Jewelry worth the hassle of poor quality, fraudulent materials, or your health?
We Create Custom Jewelry
At Valeria Custom Jewelry, you will never find anything but the highest quality precious metals and alloys in your custom jewelry. We also use high-quality gemstones possible, but more importantly, we support local businesses as we manufacture our jewelry in Texas.
Click HERE to learn more about custom jewelry, to view the rest of our custom jewelry creations, or to contact us about Custom Diamond Engagement Rings. It can cost less than you think to have your very own custom engagement ring made. Why settle for boring, uninspiring, mass-produced bridal rings from the mall? We can make exactly what you want. Don’t see what you are envisioning in our portfolio? Send us the design you want and we will bring it to life.
You can view our portfolio of custom engagement rings or custom pendants to look for ideas. Or you can contact us with your own idea
