At the 2025 JCK Las Vegas Show, exhibitor Quality Gold experienced its highest-ever grossing event.

“We were three to four people deep, even with the current geopolitical environment,” says Jeff Wynkoop of the brand’s specialized sales department. “People are still spending.”

Quality Gold

Attendance at North America’s most important fine-jewelry trade show mirrored last year’s numbers—about 17,000—according to organizer JCK Events of RX Events. Merchants who made the trip were there on a mission to replenish inventories in time for the ever-important fourth quarter. Quality Gold wasn’t the only company that noticed.

                     Ostbye

“Overall, the JCK show was a success,” notes Theresa Namie, merchandise manager, Ostbye. “Good traffic and retailers were soaking up the education and buying new product,” she explains. “Most jewelers are positive and, so far, have had a good start to the year.”

“Foot traffic was up 20% in The Plumb Club,” reveals Valerie Fletcher, vice president of design and product development at Original Designs / ODI. “Buyers were buying. There wasn’t too much concern overall regarding tariffs or the economy, although virtually everyone was closely watching the gold market.”

Buyers came to shop a wide range of offerings. Value seekers sought out the Royal Chain Group for its Phillip Gavriel line of 18k gold and sterling silver designs, while shoppers to Rembrandt Charms’ booth sought out meaningful statements.

“Personalized jewelry is booming right now,” says Eric Lux, president.

To keep fueling that fire, Rembrandt offers a Charm Event at its retailers’ stores, complete with loads of marketing assets and co-op ad funds.

Colored gemstones had strong interest, as did lab-grown diamonds—despite their dropping prices—and platinum product drew interest because of the price of gold and for its qualities.

Original Designs / ODI

“In the long term, platinum has fewer repairs and better wear and tear,” notes Amish Shah, founder, ALTR, a maker of lab-grown-diamond jewelry. ALTR stepped up its platinum production a year ago, and there are no regrets in that decision.

Overall, exhibitors maintain that shoppers were in the market for stories to tell at their counters.

“The storytelling side of jewelry is really important, so [buyers] want the cohesive collections to tell the story,” explains Jessica Zerega, merchandising director, Goldstar Jewellery. “They’re not just looking for new pieces.”

“Focus on value creation—which is not connected with origin,” urges Shah. “It’s always about how you make the customer feel about a product, that’s more important.”

Shah is focusing on cuts and colors, the “two most important conversations at the show,” he says. “Special cuts are part of who we are, and we see that as the strongest lift we’ll see in the next 12 months. And in platinum, it has better value creation because it’s a premium metal with improved margins.”

Product aside, tariffs were also on everyone’s mind. Given the tariff situation, Darrell D. King, president of Gunther Mele, a packaging company, was pleasantly surprised by traffic.

                    Gunther Mele

“The tariff situation on our commodities of packaging and display has interrupted the buying patterns of the retail jeweler,” he says. “Once the punitive tariffs were announced, we saw a complete pause in orders for about 60 days. Once there appeared to be some stability in the tariffs being levied, we saw an acceleration in sales that have more than made up for the delayed buying in early Q2. This issue has abated in the minds of jewelers [at JCK Las Vegas} and they took advantage of the show to resume their program buying of packaging and display.”