Our decision to create our jewelry in the U.S.A., in Georgia, was not an easy one but it was the right one. In the final days of 2012 I decided that there was only one way I wanted to continue The Pearl Girls and that was by creating our jewelry here in the U.S.A. There is certainly a trend these days where manufacturers are really weighing the cost and benefit of creating their products in the U.S. and, let me tell you, the costs are more. There is no way around it.
In China, I hired women to create The Pearl Girls jewelry and paid them $1 per necklace! $1! That was the going rate. By creating our jewelry here in the U.S., we have to charge $3 per inch! The cost difference is huge!
The nice thing about running a micro (as in smaller than small) business is that we get to make these decisions because we get to weigh other factors. What are those other factors? Well, first, we get to offer jobs to women in our community! We get to train women and give them skills that they can use to get other jobs. We can truly oversee the creation of each piece of our jewelry and immediately fix anything that goes wrong! We get to make tiny six inch bracelets for women with tiny wrists and nine inch bracelets for women with large wrists. In other words, we get to offer women exactly what they want. And that makes us all happy!
And the greatest compliment of all came from a New York woman who shopped with us last week. She said, “They are made with love, I can tell.” She pointed out that she has a wealth of pearl buying options in New York City but when it came to buying pearls for her granddaughters, she chose us! Hooray! “I do not know what it is,” she told me, “These pearls have an aura about them that I have never seen in other pearls.”
Among all of the wonderful things we can offer our customers, it is the gift of creating jewelry we feel proud of. We love our pearls and we love our jobs and we are proud that our jewelry is Made in Georgia, with love!
India
To read more about Abby, our Head of Production, read Twin Pearls!
I am a modern day treasure hunter who travels the world for gorgeous pearls and amazing adventures. I own a pearl jewelry and jewelry repair business, ThePearlGirls.com, with a cute retail store in Athens, GA. I also have a Pearl Travel business and travel blog at TheWorldofPearl.com.
