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Following a restructuring by Platinum Guild International (PGI), Platinum Guild USA—which has promoted the white metal in the United States for 34 years—will close on Dec. 31, according to a note from president Jenny Luker to the group’s partners.
PGI’s offices in Japan and Hong Kong will also shut. “From 2027 onward, PGI’s activities will continue through its operations in China and India,” Luker said.
Luker will remain PGI USA’s main point of contact through the end of the year. After that, Zhenzhen Liu, PGI’s director of global corporate marketing, will be the contact for inquiries, she said.
Luker sent the following statement to The Jewelry Wire:
While dedicated operations will continue in China and India from 2027 onwards, PGI remains committed to the long-term development of platinum jewelry globally, including in established markets such as Japan and the United States.
This transition reflects a change in operating structure, not a change in confidence in these markets. PGI will continue to support the global industry through its education platforms, technical expertise, market intelligence, standards leadership, and industry partnerships, while retaining the flexibility to collaborate on high-impact opportunities wherever they emerge. As the global voice for platinum jewelry, PGI remains committed to working with trade partners worldwide to strengthen the category and create sustainable growth.
Founded in 1975, the Platinum Guild has had a U.S. office since 1992. Its London office, formerly its headquarters, was closed at the end of 2012.
Kering plans to increase the U.S. presence for its quartet of jewelry brands, saying the category has “strong fundamentals” that will likely “increase its contribution to group revenue over time,”
It plans to announce further plans for the category on Dec. 2, when it will hold a “Kering Jewelry Day” in Paris.
The comments came as jewelry was once again Kering’s star performer, with third-quarter comps rising 12%—far outpacing the company’s overall comps during the period, which fell 1%. (Jewelry accounts for about 7% of Kering’s revenue.)
Not all its jewelry holdings performed equally: Kering said that Boucheron—which analysts believe is the company’s largest jewelry brand—“maintained strong momentum” during the quarter, while second-place Pomellato “continued to build momentum.” Sales at its other two brands, DoDo and Qeelin, were “mixed,” it said. (DoDo appointed a new CEO in September.)
In addition, jewelry sales in the United States fell during the quarter. “Our position in the U.S. at the moment is very limited in terms of mix,” said chief financial officer Armelle Poulou during the company’s earnings call. “This is one area for us [to develop in] the future.”
The International Gemological Institute saw strong demand for its grading reports in its latest quarter (ended Sept. 30).
Loose lab-grown reports were up a whopping 37% over last year; lab-grown diamond jewelry reports rose 47%, loose natural diamond reports climbed 8%, natural diamond jewelry reports increased 3%; and colored gemstone reports jumped 700%, due to IGI’s acquisition of American Gemological Laboratories in January. IGI’s overall revenue rose 31% year-over-year.
IGI’s post-earning call—featuring CEO Tehmasp Printer and chief financial officer Eashwar Iyer—was notable for a few questions that bordered on provocative. Among them:
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Analyst: “Your competitor, GIA, has moved away from the traditional 4Cs reporting for lab-grown diamonds … Will the market opt for simplified classification or the detailed grading reports that you provide?:”
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Iyer: “The 4Cs establish the commercial value at which these goods get traded across the value chain. … Unless that sort of clarity is available to the consumer, he doesn’t understand what he is buying. That is the reason the 4Cs have been established and [have] been prevalent for the last 70 or 80 years … It’s not going to go away at all.”
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Analyst: “Has [IGI] given printing certificate rights to the large five lab-grown diamond manufacturers in Surat?”
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Analyst: “Speaking with multiple diamond and LGD guys in the business, [they say] that there is grading inconsistency in regards to when it comes to IGI certification.”
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Iyer: “Grading is a subjective element … However, given the way our organization is structured, depending on the size of the stone, etc., there are multiple pairs of eyes which [examine a stone] before a final certificate is issued. It is not that a single grader can gauge a stone and a certificate gets printed.”
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Printer: “We are the only laboratory which has been certified by ISO [the International Standards Organization] for the last 18 years. ISO has a very stringent accreditation process where they govern the entire process as well as the technical ability.”
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Iyer added that, “after a slow start to the year, we are starting to see some traction as far as natural diamond business is also concerned. We expect this momentum to continue into the next two quarters as well.” He also expects the lab-grown market to continue expanding at its current rate.
The full transcript can be seen here, and you can listen to the audio here.
“We view Richemont’s potential participation [in a De Beers consortium] as strategically meaningful but more about optics.”
—RBC analysts, as quoted by Reuters
Roberto Coin has been appointed Cavaliere del Lavor (the Order of Merit for Labor), one of Italy’s highest honors, by Italian president Sergio Mattarella. The honor recognized the 30th anniversary of Coin’s company, which was founded in Vincenza in 1996.
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