Ethical sourcing

Setting a new standard for ethical jewellery

The current standards around ethical diamond jewellery are laughably low. Conflict-free simply isn’t enough in 2022. 

That’s why we’re demanding more from ourselves in the fight to make the jewellery industry more transparent, ethical and fair for all involved.

We’re holding ourselves to the Nightingale Standard.

Introducing

The Nightingale Standard

The Nightingale Standard is a series of rules which we hold ourselves to when making jewellery and we challenge all other jewellers to match them.

These simple rules go far beyond your typical high street jeweller's ‘conflict free’ standard and actually address the wider ethical issues of the jeweller industry. 

Issues like environmental damage, human right abuses and destructive, unsustainable working practices. 

These standards aren’t set in stone, and will change as the wider industry does, but we will always be pushing for higher standards in every part of the fine jewellery world.

Take a look at the principles we're building our business on.

Standard one

No diamonds without truly ethical, verifiable origins

When you buy a diamond from us you’ll be able to ask what country and mine it came from and get a straightforward, verifiable answer. 

In fact, we can tell you now that if you choose a mined diamond, it will come from Canada or Botswana.

You’ll even get a certificate of origin with independent verification. And we’ll explain why that particular mine meets our ethical sourcing standards.

This applies to lab grown diamonds too, full sourcing information is always on hand.

Standard two

Only sustainably grown lab diamonds

Lab diamonds can only truly be called ethical when they’re grown sustainably. That means offsetting the carbon and emissions from their creation. It also means having a supply chain that is open to checks by third party verifiers. 

In practical terms, that means all lab grown diamonds we sell come from the USA and have initiatives in place to offset increasing amounts of carbon emissions.

Standard three

Recycled or Fairtrade metals

Whatever metal you use in your ring we’ll make sure it’s recycled which prevents the need for new metal to be extracted from the earth.

Our gold suppliers also adhere to CAFOD’s 14 ‘Golden rules’ for sourcing ethical gold

We’re working on getting all our metals from certified Fairtrade and Fairmined sources too, but current supply chains make this difficult to achieve. We’ll get there, we just need some more time.

Fair pay for all staff

Your ring, like all Nightingale rings, will be made in the UK and every goldsmith involved in this process is paid a living wage.

We include all retail and back office staff in this scheme too, so all UK based workers involved in making a Nightingale ring receive a living wage.

What's next for Nightingale?

We firmly believe that the best route towards a more sustainable industry isn't to try and force change in exploitative organisations. They're simply too large and stand to make too much profit by not changing for a company like Nightingale to have any effect.

Instead, we're giving customers jewellery that is better in every way, allowing them to make an easy choice and be ethical at the same time.

That's why we're never going to stop looking at ways to make our business and jewellery more sustainable and ethical for all involved. Check back regularly to see new additions to the Nightingale Standard.

Our ethical engagement rings

Further reading

Our Story

Why Nightingale

Fair pricing is built into our business model at Nightingale. When you buy from Nightingale, you're not just getting a beautiful piece of jewellery, you're getting certainty, transparency and fairness.

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Meet the Nightingales

For most people, Nightingale evokes the image of a petite, but beautiful bird with a powerful, distinctive song. However for us, Nightingale is an eternal reminder of our values.

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