Takeaways from Las Vegas Jewelry Week

There were four main themes that shaped trading activity at the show: foot traffic, inventory, lab-grown diamonds, and actual demand.

The energy at the show was better than expected, which counts for something — it's not all doom and gloom; the US, as the mainstay of the diamond jewelry market, remains robust, even as it evolves.

There’s also a bit of an Americana theme coming through in jewelry. Le Vian listed patriotism as one of its major trends, with red, white, and blue colors symbolizing unity and resilience — alongside a southwest, denim-inspired look in their collections. That mood came through in some of the bold and edgy designs on display at the Couture and Luxury shows.

Now, let’s briefly look at those four trading themes:

1. Attendance

Foot traffic was steady, especially in the first few days of the shows — maybe a little below previous years, but sometimes fewer buyers means more serious buyers, and several exhibitors noted that.

There were also fewer international exhibitors, particularly suppliers from Israel and India, which may reflect both the sluggish state of the diamond market and US tariff policy.

2.       Inventory

US inventory was king. International suppliers had to re-export all the goods they brought in or face a 10% tariff on goods they sold. So, a lot of companies were working off stock brought into the United States before the new tariff took effect in April. Some even said they could have sold more if they had more to sell.

A few exhibitors, who relied on goods brought in specifically for the show, said they only showed up because of the non-refundable deposits they paid before the tariff were applied. The bottom line is that made in America is selling in America.

3. Lab-Grown Diamonds

Synthetics are still selling strong. Retailers are buying inventory, despite — or maybe because — prices continue to drop.

At the same time, some natural diamond suppliers observed that more jewelers want to pivot back to natural, but don’t quite know how. Some are trying to create separation between the two products, through more clearly defined displays, or even different stores for lab-grown versus natural.

We’re seeing a clearer differentiation between the two products in how jewelers treat them, and of course also in pricing. So, it feels like that segment is gradually evolving, we’ll see if it gains momentum.

Lab-grown, along with economic uncertainty, is pushing retailers to the bookends of the market: luxury on one side, budget-friendly on the other. Middle-income retailers are getting squeezed.

4.       Demand

As far as demand goes, in terms of what goods people were buying, we saw steady demand for 2- to 5-carat polished, especially 2.50 carats, which seem to be a hot item. Lab grown may be ushing wealthier consumers to gravitate toward larger natural diamond. As more consumers bought larger lab-grown stones, some wealthy buyers started going bigger with natural diamonds — almost to signal status.

Fancy shapes continue to do well — ovals, elongated cushions and radiant cuts — and marquises seem to be making a comeback, with supply shortages reported.

So yeah, the show did its job. Maybe it didn’t boost trading in a big way, but it reassured the trade that the US market is sturdy. There’s still uncertainty — about tariffs in the short term, lab-grown in the long term. We’ll see how the 90-day grace period on tariffs plays out. But the panic we felt a month or two ago seems to have eased.

As they say, panic isn’t a strategy. And at the very least, the Vegas shows gave us something to work with for the rest of the year.

For me, it was a great networking opportunity — catching up with old friends, meeting new ones in this awesome industry of ours.