The Bangkok Gems and Jewellery show takes place in March and September each year and is one of the most important trade showcases for wholesale silver jewellery in the world. Many truly first class exhibitors exhibit their latest designs including silver rings, pendants, earrings, bangles and bracelets. So what were the designs trends at the September 2009 event?
Virtually all exhibitors are really focused on supplying large volume buyers that must place orders for over 50 to 100 plus pieces per design. 925 plata
Therefore it is not really such a good show for smaller retailers looking to buy just a few items of a particular design. There were some exhibitors offering wholesale silver rings, pendants, earrings and other jewellery from stock but we found very little that was new or exciting. And in fact we found many such exhibitors were using the show as a vehicle to sell old stock.
Every year wholesale silver jewellery seems to take up a larger proportion of the floor space at the show. However, this was the forth show in a row where it was very obvious that visitor numbers had fallen on previous years and perhaps not surprisingly many exhibitors that we spoke to were resigned to poor sales with many not expecting significant improvement until the 2nd half of 2010.
Trends we saw at the show:
There were plenty of new designs but most exhibitors were sticking to tried and tested design concepts so we were unable to identify a new design or fashion trend.
Many new designs were plain silver jewellery especially plain silver rings with Cubic Zirconia especially clear CZ stones and to some extent black CZ stones which remain popular with Western buyers.
The move to light weight silver jewelery has continued with more lightweight jewellery designs. We saw very few new heavy or chunky types of necklaces and bracelets.
Laser or burnished finish plain silver jewellery have increased in popularity over the past 12 months.
There has been a fall in the numbers of both new and existing designs using Coral, Mother of Pearl and other types of shells.
Wholesale silver jewellery with Cubic Zirconia, Black Onyx, Spinel, Garnet, Emeralds, Amethyst and Marcasite remain good sellers.
As reported in the trade press last year, sales of silver rings held up well at the Hong Kong Jewellery trade show and that seems to have continued through to the Bangkok show, especially in the under US$25.00 per item price point.
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