What do lab-grown diamonds mean for Jewelers Row?

The proposed Toll Bros building on the corner of Seventh and Sansom Streets isn’t the only thing looming over Jewelers’ Row The jewelry industry could be rocked by the introduction of lab-grown diamonds These diamonds have only recently been sold alongside mined gems.

Previously, they were only made for function and used in manufacturing. Diamond giant De Beers, which once distanced itself from the synthetic market, debuted Lightbox Jewelry in May as a retailer of lab-grown diamonds with a huge markdown from mined stones. One carat retails for $800 without a setting, and pricing is linear rather than the exponential increases favored by natural-stone jewelers This is lower than brands like Brilliant Earth, where a one-carat diamond produced in a lab retails for about $2,000 Still, both are significantly less expensive than a mined diamond: the standard savings are typically quoted as 20 percent to 40 percent for lab-grown diamonds compared with its. Source