I'm passionate about sustainability. I started this business 10 years ago because I believe in the preservation of a beautiful item. I realized that when items we sold pre-loved or secondhand they were broken back down into the original materials and re made into new items and sold as new. That meant that a diamond ring, that was sold to a jeweller or pawn shop, was actually re used into a ring as 'new'.
For a brand like Tiffany & Co. where so much of the value is in the design of the piece, the workmanship, it made no sense for such a piece to be broken back down into the original materials. I wanted to preserve this beauty and allow people to be able to save this piece form being destroyed and continue on with the legacy of design.
Fast forward 10 years, the concept of Fast Fashion and Slow Fashion is slowly becoming more mainstream.
Fast Fashion is where you can purchase an extremely cheap item brand new but the quality is low, the workers are not treated well, and the materials are not of high quality. This type of Fast Fashion is when people don't even really care about the cost of the item, so they may purchase the item and wear it once, never wear it, or wear it and afterwards it shortly breaks. There have even been incidences of people getting a rash from certain materials.
Fast Fashion is not sustainable for the environment. It is creating more waste and landfill, and it is not a long-term solution.
Slow Fashion on the other hand, is a carefully curated item that is quality and will last a long time. This will be of higher quality and workers are likely artisans or designers. Sustainable fashion also falls under Slow Fashion. Sustainable fashion is where a carefully curated piece of fashion is re used, re cycled or re worn. This is even seen on the red carpet, where clients are able to re wear a famous dress or piece of jewellery.
Sustainable fashion is what we used to do historically. People didn't buy things brand-new; items were handed down through generations because they were of such high quality and prestige they were treasured. Kings and Queens wear jewellery that are hundred of years old. The collection of Tiaras of the British Royal Family the importance is the history. One could have been worn by Princess Diana or Queen Victoria.
Truly wealthy people understand that items hold value MORE than the cost of the item. They understand history, context, design and workmanship. They don't spend $15 on something only to be worn once and then be thrown away.
Sustainable high-quality fashion allows people to tap into this unknown world of re-using, recycling, value - removing the wrongly perceived notion that it is old or second hand, instead it is rich with a history and rich with design and quality.
We have been dealing with high end pre-loved jewellery for over 10 years and we have seen some incredible pieces during our time. We've seen the Schlumberger Maltese Cross.
This piece retailed for well over $35000 and we sold it to a repeat customer for a fraction of the price. This piece, that will be an heirloom for many generations to come was only worn once by the original owner.
We've had an extremely rare Yellow Diamond Tiffany & Co. Soleste Ring
This was also snapped up by a repeat customer of ours.
We have seen hundreds of stunning pieces that have been re homed to a new place to be treasured for years to come. I can't list them all, I would be here a month posting pictures.
The thing to note though as we don't get many pieces of high quality. Especially now as high-quality vintage pieces are harder to find. Even luxury brands are giving into consumerism and introducing lower quality items.
I'm so happy the past week to have re homed two stunning pieces.
This is something I'm passionate about and I hope that people will begin to understand that this is not only about saving money, it is actually a much bigger cause than that. It is preserving not only the item but preserving the impact to our environment and embracing the notion of history, quality and workmanship instead of poor quality, new and waste.
My hope is that more people will understand that a sustainable world is a cleaner world.
Catherine Trenton Jewellery