Costume jewelry. What
does that mean exactly? I have wondered that over the years as
cliptomania.com went from a very young company to a full-fledged
teenager (17 years and counting). I thought costume jewelry meant it
is inexpensive, well below $20 retail and massed produced. This
low-cost jewelry can have pitfalls including changing color, turning the
skin colors, breaking easily, or causing any allergic reactions among
other things. However, as Cliptomania
grew and began attending jewelry trade shows I got an education. Yes,
what I thought about costume jewelry was right. However, I also learned
it is possible to sell designer name creations, offer quality gemstones, 14K gold, vermeil, sterling silver and so on. What really mattered was the first cost to the retailer – the wholesale cost.
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| A new heirloom |
Another thing I wanted to consider, was it possible to still get
handmade handcrafted clip earrings? Would the cost prohibit them in
light of the inexpensive, mass-produced machine-made products? The
answer was it depended on which country the products gets made in. If
the clip earrings are, from whether a developing or developed
country? The difference can affect the manufacturer’s price to the
retailer. Lastly, I learned another important factor in cost reduction
for quality costume jewelry was the relationship between the retailer
and manufacturer. A good working relationship in which a manufacturer
understands what the retailer is looking for can go a long way.
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| Handmade Mayan |
At Cliptomania.com we mix it up. Some of the items we sell are
machine-made, mass-produced clip earrings, passed from one manufacturer
to another to completion. Then there are our handmade items that come
from designers who work with artisan’s in developing countries and
improve their way of life in the process. Some of our designers like
doing all the work and fabrication of the clip earrings they make, and
minimally use machine-made parts. An example would be the environmentally conscious artisans
who take everyday products like bottle glass and turn into clip
earrings, or sea glass straight out of the ocean to do the same thing.
Yet another designer makes clip earrings out of metal straight from the
junk yard. And lastly we have designers who continue traditions from
the past like metalsmithing, creating works-of-art at affordable prices.
It is possible to please most customers without sacrificing quality to
cost. Cliptomania.com will likely never go beyond costume and fine
jewelry to the jewelry that can cost thousands or even tens of thousands
of dollars. We know with the existing economy, and knowing our
customer base, that this will never be the case. We like our middle
ground providing a variety of quality costume and designer jewelry at an
affordable price. I hope the meaning of costume jewelry has changed
for you as well.
