Are millenials buying smaller diamonds?

[Resonance.Of.Life]

Our * not out.

 

[arkieb1]

I don't think you can categorise any group of people as all the same. No doubt some Millenials might want smaller diamonds yet others like to follow fashion, I read this interesting article that suggested many of them live outside of their means, because they feel the need to have pseudo perfect lives they post on Facebook and Instagram just like the Kardashians and various TV, film, music and reality created celebrities. The article pointed out that they are a generation actually spending more on weddings, more on photographers, etc more on eating out more generally on creating these perfect images of perfection purely for social media...... But I don't think they all do that, no doubt they aren't all the same with the same priorities, some might just like bling because they like bling, while others no doubt wish to save their money and don't see the point of owning or tying up money in much bling at all. Does it matter? To quote Kenny "people vary".

 

[Laila619]

I think so. A lot of ladies today still choose diamonds, but some prefer smaller stones to save the $, or they opt for something different altogether (colored stones, sims, moissanite, etc.). There are options for everyone.

 

[ChristineRose]

I think so. A lot of ladies today still choose diamonds, but some prefer smaller stones to save the $, or they opt for something different altogether (colored stones, sims, moissanite, etc.). There are options for everyone.

This is true, but there have been small stones, colored stones, and sims for hundreds of years. (The sims are a lot better though.) If anything it's the idea that the engagement ring should be a diamond solitaire that's (relatively) new. I not sure young people really do have less money than my generation did when I was that age--I know some people had lots of money but people I knew didn't seem to. Of course we didn't have the choice between a phone and a diamond, medical care was cheaper because it was so much poorer, houses were cheaper but most houses were crummy by today's standards. And stones might have been cheaper, but you had to go to a local jeweler and take what you could get, and there wasn't a factory in China that would make you a setting from out of a huge catalog and FedEx it to you.

 

[Polished]

I think so. A lot of ladies today still choose diamonds, but some prefer smaller stones to save the $, or they opt for something different altogether (colored stones, sims, moissanite, etc.). There are options for everyone.

I'm no expert on the spending of millenials but agree that when there are more options available people can shift their spending more in tune with where their values are heading.

If there is a shift towards millenials buying smaller diamonds for engagement rings I think there is a gap in the market (the US) for well made settings to suit a smaller diamond. I love the look of some of the settings on some of the European jewellery sites with smaller diamonds:


http://www.my-wedding-rings.de/verlobungsringe2012.php?id=1