gory by unit sales, outpacing clothing as consumers increasingly see fine pieces as long-term assets and expressions of self. For small, design-led studios like The Cut Jewelry, the result is a delicate balancing act between protecting margins, preserving craft, and keeping clients emotionally – and financially – on board. Running a studio in a $5,000 world “It has been a period of great volatility,” Talitha Cummins, the founder of The Cut Jewelry, told Inside Retail. “You have to be really on top of your numbers, or it’s easy to lose money quickly. We had handmade chains on our website that we hadn’t updated pricing on for a few months and realized we were actually losing money on them.” For gold-forward designs – solid bands, heavy chains, chunky stackers – those miscalculations are amplified. These are precisely the styles analysts say feel price shocks most acutely when the metal rallies. Where larger groups can hedge or spread risk across volumes, independents rely on agility. “We don’t have the scale, but we have agility,” Cummins noted. “Instead of offering an 18K gold handmade chain, we can quickly source and propose 9K chains of the same type. We are bespoke, so we can make our higher-cost pieces in 14K gold or 9K gold. There’s always room to move and pivot.” Her experience mirrors a broader shift: across the world, jewelers are quietly introducing 9-karat lines, plated options, or slimmer profiles to prevent price tags from outpacing customer comfort. Yet Cummins has found that some concessions have hard limits. When The Cut floated the idea of gold vermeil in its education content, customers rejected it. “They’d rather save for longer to buy the real thing,” she said. That resistance aligns with research from McKinsey and Business of Fashion’s State of Fashion 2026, which highlights jewelry as a “self-gifting” category where perceived investment value and emotional durability matter as much as initial outlay. Customers may compromise on timing or configuration – but less so on the underlying substance. Redesigning desire, not just the bill Rather than stripping back her aesthetic, Cummins has focused on reframing how clients build their pieces. “Essentially, we can source or craft any of our pieces in 9K or 18K gold,” she explained. “A segment of clients is choosing the option of 9K gold, but the rising gold price has pushed people to view gold as an investment, so they’re more likely to want 18K with the higher gold content and will sometimes wait longer to purchase.” One recurring pattern: “We’ve had clients purchasing pendants and not the chain – saying they’ll use a chain of their own for now. There are many different ways to find a solution.” Industry-wide, similar micro-adjustments are emerging: customers sizing down from necklaces to bracelets, switching from 18K to 14K or 9K, or opting for platinum in white-metal designs where the price differential makes sense. Lab-grown diamonds, which McKinsey expects to account for half of diamond jewelry unit sales by 2030, are also cushioning the blow, freeing up budget that can be reallocated to the metal itself. “Lab diamonds have been hugely popular and continue to be,” Cummins said, though she stressed the need for “an excellent supplier who values cutting.” Some independents have contemplated migrating into silver as a defensive move, but Cummins resists that temptation. “The idea of moving to silver, for example, is not something we’d consider – it tarnishes, scratches, and just doesn’t provide the same quality outcome as gold.” In a market where consumers increasingly treat jewelry as a long-term store of value, that positioning is deliberate. Trust, transparency, and the price of time Amid volatility, many jewelers are discovering that what they sell most powerfully isn’t metal – it’s method. “Human skill in creating jewelry is what drives value,” Cummins stated. “It’s the end product, the setting, the finishing, and final polish. We create everything here in our local workshop.” Unlike click-to-configure platforms that outsource production offshore, The Cut keeps design and making under one roof. “We source each individual stone, liaise with our clients every step of the way through the design and crafting of the piece in our local workshop, and it’s ready in three to four weeks. Our clients value this process, and it’s what they pay for.” That emphasis on process and proximity echoes a broader consumer pivot toward transparency and craft, as documented in McKinsey’s recent work on jewelry and luxury. With margins under pressure – Pandora, for instance, flagged an 80-basis-point hit from higher gold and silver prices in recent results – brands are increasingly explicit about the labor, sourcing, and service embedded in each piece. For independents, that story is often more linear: no global hedging strategies, just a direct line from workshop bench to wearer. Pragmatically, volatility is forcing new disciplines. “For the first time, we’ve had to include a line at the bottom of our quote telling clients the quote is valid for two weeks from the date of sending,” Cummins shared. “There’ll still be pieces like men’s heavy wedding bands where the margin is eaten into. But that’s on us. The quoted price is the price the client will pay.” It’s a small but telling shift: a boutique label adopting institutional risk-management techniques while preserving the intimacy of bespoke service. Gold’s squeeze – and its halo effect Despite record prices and softening global jewelry demand, the category continues to outperform the wider fashion market, buoyed by self-purchase, gifting, and the growing role of jewelry in personal identity. The Cut Jewelry, which is preparing to open its third studio in Melbourne, is a beneficiary of that resilience. “We’ve developed a beautiful community of people for whom we provide education and empower them with the ability to choose for themselves,” Cummins said. “We reject the unnecessary elitism of lab vs. mined, and I think people have responded to this. Gold is expensive, yes, but we show them options or workarounds. Client service is our absolute driver. We love people, and I hope they love us.” Her advice to other independents watching gold climb yet again is blunt. “We’re selling design, craftsmanship, and trust, not just gold. I feel like those who can convey that message in the best way will do well.” In a $5,000 world, that might be the only sustainable hedge small jewelers truly control. Further reading: Fabergé gets offloaded in ‘surprisingly low’ $50m deal