The newly-created Grown Diamond Trade Organization (GDTO) will tackle a number of priorities of the lab-grown diamond (LGD) producers, manufacturers and retailers, such as certification and advertising.
“The Grown Diamond Trade Organization will unite growers, manufacturers, and retailers to create a single voice for consumers and unify the rapidly growing lab-grown diamond segment of the jewelry market,” the organization’s website states.
“We must organize to meet the growing demand and proudly differentiate from the traditional mined diamond institutions.”
The group will offer members reports with certifications for manufacturing processes, quality control and the specifications of the finished jewelry, it explained. These reports will include a sustainability rating awarded through “an international, multi-stakeholder consensus process.”
The GDTO has chosen Marty Hurwitz as executive director, who is best known as the CEO of the international consultancy The MVEye which focuses on the LGD market.
“Lab grown diamonds are manufactured to strict standards and should be graded accordingly,” he said. “Sending a grown diamond to a laboratory to verify the quality after it’s produced is akin to re-opening and tasting every bottle of wine after it’s corked. It simply doesn’t make sense.”
Members of GDTO will gain access to a co-op advertising fund, sales associate training materials, consumer and trade PR support, vendor matching, government lobbying, and capital raising assistance. GDTO also plans to host the first-ever trade show dedicated solely to lab-grown diamonds.
Theodor Lisovoy, Editor in Chief, Rough&Polished
