Lab-Grown Diamonds Are Becoming a Must-Stock Category
Author: Alex K., CMO at Labrilliante
What's Happened ?
- Stephanie Gottlieb, a longtime Natural Diamond Council ambassador, launched two lab-grown capsule collections this month
- Pandora expanded lab-grown diamonds into Spain and Italy via new flagships in Barcelona
- Both moves point to the same shift: lab-grown is being built for everyday wear, not just bridal
Stephanie Gottlieb spent years building her name around natural diamonds, so her decision this month to launch two lab-grown capsule collections — Casual Carats, silicone banded rings, and Lola, a drilled-stone line - carries more weight than it would from a pure-play lab-grown brand. Her framing was deliberate: natural diamonds for "forever" pieces, lab-grown for "right now" wear. "Natural diamonds are forever. Lab-grown diamonds are for right now," she told JCK. Notably, she didn't lead with a classic diamond line. She led with silicone bands - a bet that the first lab grown purchase for her clients is a fashion piece, not a ring
That same bet is playing out at much larger scale. Pandora brought lab-grown diamonds to Spain and Italy this quarter, opening flagship stores in Barcelona and Milan, with the collection also reaching 40 additional Italian stores and online. Where Gottlieb is testing depth with one client base, Pandora is testing breadth across a continent — but the underlying assumption is identical: lab-grown sells best not only as a cheaper substitute for an engagement ring, but also its own everyday category.
Put the two stories side by side and the common denominator is obvious. A designer known for guarding the natural-diamond narrative and a mass retailer scaling across borders arrived at the same conclusion independently: the growth in lab-grown isn't happening in the bridal case anymore. It's happening in studs, tennis jewelry, pendants, fashion rings, and self-purchase pieces — categories where customers buy more often and think less about resale value.
For independent jewelers, that convergence matters more than either story alone. When a natural-diamond loyalist and a global brand both build lab-grown around everyday wear rather than engagement rings, it stops being one company's strategy and starts looking like where the category is actually going. Stores that keep lab-grown confined to the bridal case are competing for a shrinking share of the opportunity.
Expect more designers with natural-diamond reputations to test fashion-first lab-grown lines over the next two quarters, following the same logic Gottlieb and Pandora already have. LaBrilliante is here to help you build that assortment now, while it's still a choice and not a catch-up.