War Of The Diamonds
Share
On Monday the 2nd of June 2025, the Gemologicial Insitiute of America announced that it will change how it grades lab grown diamonds. Later this year, they will stop grading lab grown diamonds in the same way they grade natural diamonds. The National Jeweler magazine published this breaking diamond news last week sharing;
"The lab (GIA) said it is making the change in response to the dramatic compression in the range of color and clarity seen in lab-grown diamonds, a change that has come about as a result of continual improvements in diamond-growing technology in recent years.
It also noted that this revision will “help consumers understand the important differences in the two products’ origin, ensuring their confidence and enabling them to make informed and educated purchase decisions.”"
Instead of grading lab grown diamond with a colour and clarity, the GIA will now grade them as "Premium" or "Standard". They have also said if a lab grown diamond falls beneath the "Standard" grade, it won't receive a certificate at all.
But will providing consumers with less information help them to make informed choices?
Many people within the trade don't think it will. They believe that this is just another tactic in the war on lab grown diamonds.
Jeffrey Mann, President at Jeffrey Mann Fine Jewelers in Ohio said on linkedin;
"GIA’s decision to differentiate grading systems between mined and lab grown based on quantity of lab production is baseless, meritless and biased. Furthermore, it’s outside of GIA’s role as an educational institution."
He adds,
"It’s obvious that GIA has caved to the pressure placed on them by the mined diamond industry. It’s obvious this is one more feeble attempt to try and put the lab grown genie back in the bottle."
I have published articles on the war on lab grown diamonds in 2022 and again in 2024 when I shared updated news on how lab diamonds were continuing to pose a real threat to natural diamonds.
The time has come to share a new update on how this war is escalating.
I shared in my last article in May 2024 that De Beers were being sold off. It's still for sale more than a year later. If your house had been on the market for this length of time you'd be concerned. For a brand like De Beers, who are the second largest diamond mining company with 29% of the global market, this would have been unimaginable 5 years ago. Lab grown diamonds have completely changed the jewellery industry and the natural diamond sector have unwittingly been instrumental in the success of the created gemstones.
DeBeers announced in May 2025 that it was shutting down Lightbox. Lightbox was DeBeers’ company that sold lab grown diamonds that their sister company, Element Six created. They saw the threat of lab grown diamonds in 2018 and decided to enter into the market with the hope of influencing it rather than fighting directly against it. Their hope was to make lab grown diamonds into a fashion product, similar to cubic zirconia, by pushing the price so low that consumers would not want to have a lab grown diamond for important purchases such as wedding and engagement rings or expensive diamond jewellery.
“De Beers thought that consumers would think the same way they did—that lab-grown wasn’t a competitor [of natural], that it wasn’t made for bridal,” says one executive involved in the Lightbox launch. “That turned out to be all wrong.”
Element Six will continue to make lab grown diamonds but only for industrial and high tech applications.
What the luxury jewellery market failed to understand is that luxury no longer means expensive and unattainable. Some marketers still insist that the concept of affordable luxury is an oxymoron but there has been a seismic shift in power from brands to consumers. Consumers are no longer looking to brands to define who they are. Consumers want meaningful experiences which add value to their lives. Consumers aspire to feel good rather than appear rich. The competitive environment of internet marketing has created a new arena where brands are asking customers what they want and working out how to get it for them rather than telling customers what they should buy. Luxury is now how important a brand makes a customer feel by giving them value for money and making them feel special through products tailored to their needs with exceptional service and aftercare.
Retailers understand this but those in the B2B sectors of the jewellery industry are still slow to catch on. Martin Rapaport, a leading voice in the diamond industry has tried everything to get retailers to stop selling lab grown diamonds. He has refused to list them in his Rap List, an industry tool that dealers use to keep up to date with diamond prices. He has appeared in a Netflix documentary, ironically titled “Nothing Lasts Forever”. Now his last ditch attempt at using his power is to shame jewellers for selling lab grown diamonds.
Matthew Gabel who runs MJ Gabel, a New York diamond jewellery company, shares his frustration about Martin Rapaport’s criticism of jewellers in his youtube jewellery blog. Matthew says that for every natural diamond he sells, ten other customers are specifically asking for lab grown diamonds. He says that he would fail as a business by not giving customers what they want and Martin doesn't understand this.
Jewellers globally are discovering that lab grown diamonds are not just beautiful and more affordable but that customers are not buying them because they can’t afford to buy mined diamonds but rather because they see that lab grown diamonds offer better value for money.
The GIA, by refusing to provide like for like certificates for lab grown diamonds, could find themselves another casualty in this war. They are not the only company certificating diamonds and I think it is unlikely that other laboratories, such as the IGI, will follow their lead.
It’s another thrilling instalment in the battle between lab diamonds and natural diamonds. It certainly puts a new spin on conflict free diamonds!