F = Fair Made

When you look at the item page of any one of our products, click on the FRE™ tab - the farthest tab on the right directly below the main product image. Every item has a "Fair" listing. In our FRE™ classification, Fair working conditions.

This classification covers the wages paid and benefits offered to the artisans who make our jewelry. Fair trade concerns, among many criteria, labor for items made primarily in the developing world. Our Fair classification covers fair labor made from our suppliers and in our own company.

Much of what we source is from other American companies, particularly the cast components that make up some of our jewelry. We cannot determine the labor practices of these companies because they are privately held. However, we do disclose in our "F" rating the wages and benefit page at Reflective Images.

We work directly with only one international jewelry manufacturer. This company adheres strictly to fair trade principals. Read the detailed mission statement from this factory.

At this time, the concept of "fair trade" is widely used in relation to jewelry manufacturing. On this website, we use the term "Fair Made" instead of fair trade because at this point there is no agreed upon definition, nor is there any third party certification of fair trade jewelry. If you want to learn more about this, read our blog article entitled: "Is There Such A Thing As Fair Trade Jewelry?"

Because the concept of "fair trade" and "eco" can actually be used in marketing to screen manufacturing processes in the jewelry industry that are harmful, we have dedicated ourselves to transparency which we believe, based upon our research, is the best business practice at this time.

In the jewelry industry, the Initial third party "fair trade" certification activity is focused at this point only on precious gems and metal. Manufacturing is a long way off from being third party certified, but we are part of that dialog.

Additional Resources:

Marc Choyt, the president of Reflective Images, speaks on Rapaport TV about Fair Trade Jewelry issues.
The emotional energy that goes into a piece of jewelry makes a difference and this article discusses the quantum physics behind fair and ethically sourced jewelry.
An interview with the CEO of the South African Jewelry Counsel, Lourens Mare, on a remarkable Fair Trade jewelry project in South Africa.
What constitutes a fair wage in for people in the jewelry sector? Read Marc's article written in response to Santa Fe, NM after it established itself as the city with the highest minimum wage in the country.

Comments or feedback, contact Marc Choyt, President of Reflective Images at: 888-733-5238 Ex. 12 or info@celticjewelry.com