In 2024, the G7 Diamond Protocol shook up the diamond industry, creating a profound impact on the global diamond supply chain.
Beyond the new sanctions, 2024 was a year of booming lab-grown diamond sales and increasing popularity of unique aesthetics, such as salt-and-pepper diamonds. It was also a year of shifting global dynamics, as India surpassed China in natural diamond consumption, becoming the second-largest market after the US.
Every year brings its own set of challenges, both short and long-term, for all players across the diamond pipeline. Let’s take a look at the hot-button issues and up-and-coming trends that will define the diamond industry in 2025.
Reimagining the Natural Diamonds Narrative
Since the mid-twentieth century, natural diamonds have been a symbol of luxury, love and commitment. That symbolism carries emotional power for consumers, as well as an expensive price tag.
In recent years, the narrative around natural diamonds has sometimes struggled to compete with more affordable lab-grown alternatives. However, each diamond has a unique story to tell, and in 2025, we’ll see new and different narratives designed to reignite the spark around natural diamonds and resonate with consumers.
This trend is larger than any specific brand or retailer, reflecting an industry-wide need to restore the image of natural diamonds. As stated by David Kellie, CEO, Natural Diamond Council, at the Dubai Diamond Conference in November 2024, “The whole industry needs to come together and support the effort of promoting the natural diamond narrative.”
According to Al Cook, Chief Executive Officer, De Beers Group, “We have to develop a bold new way for the bold new generation of consumers”, and one of the ways to do this is by marketing natural diamonds according to category. To this end, diamond business leaders meeting at the DMCC agreed to establish an industry-wide fund to support category marketing for natural diamonds.
There is another key aspect of the natural diamonds narrative that will come into play in 2025: sustainability and ethical practices. Today’s consumers increasingly demand responsible diamond sourcing and production, verified by a traceable record of the diamond’s true provenance. This point was reflected at the DMCC in a session entitled “Beyond Compliance – The impact of ESG regulations on diamonds”, with an expert panel exploring how the industry can reimagine the narrative to resonate with contemporary consumer values. By embedding transparency and storytelling in the diamond pipeline, the desirability of diamonds can be restored and elevated to new heights.
Enhanced Trust and Transparency
At the DMCC, Margot Stuart, co-founder of OriginAll S.A. stated: “There is a pressure calling for industry transparency. Trust needs proof.”
From the diamond’s origin to manufacturing and grading processes, transparency is the foundation for consumer trust. In 2025, customers will be demanding more proof and transparency from diamond sellers. The ability to provide it will be a top concern for manufacturers and retailers.
Transparency and trust among diamond consumers can be built and strengthened in various ways:
- Educating customers about grading processes
- Integrating diamond traceability in the production system
- Adhering to sustainability practices and communicating this value to customers
- Third-party diamond certification based on innovative grading technologies
In the coming year, players in the diamond industry will increasingly implement these practices as they aim to become more transparent and trustworthy in the eyes of their customers.
Personalization and Customization of High-End Jewelry
The demand for customized jewelry continues to grow, as consumers increasingly prefer personalized designs that reflect their unique character and mood. This is particularly seen among Gen Z consumers, who see jewelry as a form of self-expression.
Brands that offer a wider range of customization options will be positioned to appeal to the demand for personalized designs in 2025. This trend is especially notable in the high-end jewelry segment, where brands are increasingly working with influential designers to offer “one-of-a-kind” and customizable designs that give customers the sense of individuality they crave.
Lab-Grown Diamonds and Fancy Shapes
The demand for lab-grown diamonds has increased in recent years, with predictions that synthetic diamonds will make up 10% of all global diamond sales by 2030.
Whether this trend will continue apace remains to be seen. Meanwhile, some diamond retailers are noting that the price of lab-grown diamonds has gone down at the same time that demand has increased. This means that while retailers are selling more LGDs, the overall revenue from these sales has stayed the same.
In 2025, the LGD market will diversify with more fancy shapes and higher demand for these products. As fancy lab-grown diamonds become more popular, diamond grading technologies for LGD will continue to develop and refine in order to support sales with high-quality diamond reports.
Traceability and Country of Origin
At the 2024 Dubai Diamond Conference, many discussions focused on the issue of country of origin. During the first panel entitled “Diamonds in Distress”, the experts on stage delved into the most pressing problems facing the industry today, including geopolitical tensions, economic slowdown and supply chain difficulties. A new claim has surfaced that diamonds going out of mines need to be traceable, which puts extraordinary added pressure on miners and manufacturers to definitively solve the traceability issue.
Beyond 2025, this will result in a trend of end-to-end traceability that spans the entire supply chain. According to the recent “State of Fashion 2024” report by BoF, the fashion industry is already making efforts towards supply chain traceability. The diamond industry tends to follow in the footsteps of the fashion industry, so this is a strong indicator that we are also headed to a future that is more focused on pipeline traceability.
Advanced Technology Integration
Every stage of the diamond supply chain is becoming more sophisticated with the integration of advanced technologies. At the diamond mines, for instance, x-ray systems are being used for diamond recovery, and technologies such as Sarine Galaxy are in place for automated sorting of rough diamonds at the source.
Automated and AI-based grading technologies at diamond production facilities are enabling more accurate, repeatable and faster grading results, which helps to streamline the mid to downstream pipeline according to consumer demand.
In the retail world, digital product passports enable brands to link physical diamonds to digital IDs, verifying the authenticity of the product and providing an immersive digital experience that attracts customer attention and interest. Sarine’s AutoScan Plus is an automatic system that enables registration of diamond parcels and creation of a ”digital twin”, ensuring that the rough diamond has a verified, registered corresponding ID along the entire production process. These technologies will be an integral part of the move towards supply chain traceability, and will also facilitate a powerful sales tool for retailers who can leverage the diamond’s unique digital ID to help the customer connect with a diamond in real time.
Holistic Consumer Experiences
In the past decade or so, consumer expectations have irrevocably changed. People now expect brands to cater to their emotional and social needs and values. Product quality, brand identity, and price point are no longer enough. As the marketplace becomes more saturated, and the internet exposes consumers to more content and products, the shift towards a holistic consumer experience will become more urgent. Brands must continue to evolve in this direction in order to stay in the game.
Storytelling will continue to be a key to unlocking a more immersive, luxurious and compelling experience for consumers. For diamond sellers, storytelling that connects the product with the buyer’s personal journey, milestones, or social causes will resonate strongly.
Are you looking to up your retail game with powerful diamond experiences in 2025? Explore Sarine’s diamond solutions for retailers, including a wide range of digital ID reports for every consumer need.
