News

Tariffs and Rising Material Costs Make Jewelry Sourcing, Pricing Difficult

Economic uncertainty and rising global costs associated with sourcing materials, specifically from Asia, have impacted the jewelry industry within promo and retail.

Key Takeaways

• The jewelry sector faces a “triple-whammy” of rising tariffs, record-high gold prices, and unfavorable exchange rates, leading to production cost increases of up to 45%.


• The Trump administration’s reciprocal tariffs, especially on countries in Asia, are complicating global supply chains for products like jewelry, where components often originate from multiple countries.


• Constantly shifting tariff policies have created pricing instability and confusion in the promotional products industry, making it difficult for suppliers and distributors to plan or commit to long-term pricing.

As the Trump administration rolls out its plans for reciprocal tariffs on virtually all of the U.S.’s trading partners, the conversation in the promotional products industry has understandably been around apparel and steel or aluminum products like drinkware – the most popular branded merch categories.

But there are other not-as-commonly-sold categories that are also experiencing tremendous disruption. Primary among them: jewelry.

Promotional products jewelry typically consists of items like class rings, necklaces, earrings, watches, and other collectibles and award pieces like coins or plaques that could incorporate material like gold, silver or gemstones. The costs for these items are shooting up due to a confluence of factors that include tariffs, escalating material costs and unfavorable exchange rates.

“Having been a U.S. manufacturer of emblematic jewelry since 1967, life was pleasant and manageable,” Neil Berman, president of Adventure Specialties Inc. (asi/31590) tells ASI Media.

Tariffs have made it more difficult, and Berman says they’ve been a problem in the industry since they were first enacted in 2018, and then upheld throughout the Biden administration, before Trump increased them even more during his current term.

“Our ability to absorb tariffs and associated costs were difficult to accept then and impossible accept now with the insanity running rampant at present,” he says. “Simply put, we have to pass tariffs et al off to our customers and they, in turn, independent distributors, off to their end-users.”

‘Triple Whammy’

Others in the jewelry industry have noted that the rising cost of gold related to economic uncertainty has added another monkey wrench to their operations.

“The ripple effect caused a triple-whammy: tariff plus gold price plus exchange rate,” designer Lisa Nikfarjam of Lisa Nik told Observer. “Even with a 10% tariff, when combined with record-high gold prices and unfavorable currency exchange rates, the cost of producing a gold item jumped 40 to 45% almost overnight.”

Gold, for example, is currently at a value of $3,427 per ounce. JP Morgan estimates that figure will continue to rise throughout 2025, possibly hitting $3,365 by the end of the year, and even going as high as $4,250 by the end of next year.

Silver, too, has risen. CBS News reported that silver was worth an estimated $28.92 per ounce in January. That figure is now $39.48.

44%

The percentage year-over-year increase in the value of gold in June.

Additionally, other materials like copper are currently subject to tariffs. In February, the White House released a statement called “Addressing the Threat to National Security from Imports of Copper.” Beginning Aug. 1, the U.S. will place a 50% tariff on copper imports. With that announcement on July 8, copper prices spiked 13% in one day to a record high of $5.69 per pound – the biggest single-day increase of copper prices on record, according to CNN.

“There is an atmosphere of deep concern in the jewelry industry, which is considering what actions to take in the face of constantly changing signals regarding tariffs, including measures that the average consumer is likely unaware of,” Lisa Koenigsberg, president of Initiatives in Art and Culture, told Observer. “Some consumers are already feeling the pain of increased prices that were raised even as early as June in anticipation of heightened tariffs to be imposed on the now-Aug. 1 deadline.”

Also complicating matters is that a single jewelry piece might not be made start to finish in one country. It could be made from components from one country, and then gemstones from another country are cut in another and set in yet another country, before finally being shipped out. U.S. customs law defines a jewelry piece’s country of origin based on the concept of “substantial transformation,” which is defined as the product undergoing “a fundamental change in form, appearance, nature or character,” per the International Trade Administration.

This means that any supplier who imports jewelry pieces would be subject to the tariff rate of the country legally designated as the item’s origin country. This is yet another layer of uncertainty that those within the promotional products industry who source abroad are experiencing in 2025.

With components like precious metals, diamonds and other gemstones that often originate in other countries, the jewelry industry is in a position where it is extraordinarily difficult to simply manufacture domestically and avoid the tariffs. To work around this issue, some jewelers told sources like the Observer that they have pushed items like hollow chains rather than solid gold to cut down on the prices of raw materials.

“Even when the [China] tariff jumped to 145%, our domestic cost of manufacture by comparison was dead in the water.”Neil Berman, Adventure Specialties Inc. (asi/31590)

From the promotional products industry perspective, the negotiations over the reciprocal tariffs have not made things easier, as now pricing is a moving target.

“What they have done immediately is cause confusion in the ability to commit to accurate pricing and in knowing how long that commitment will last,” Berman says. “Even when the [China] tariff jumped to 145%, our domestic cost of manufacture by comparison was dead in the water.”

Berman adds that, even though there was speculation that the Trump administration could negotiate with the nation’s trading partners and lower the rates, this would not be an issue that would go away quickly, and that the ongoing pricing uncertainty and hardships could last as long as Trump remains in office, or beyond.

“I feel,” he says, “that we’re looking at a minimum of three to four more years.”