Women’s Empowerment in Action, within the Jewellery Supply Chain

Vivien Johnston of The Dragonfly Initiative is an expert in her field regarding jewellery ethics and sustainability as well as having a track record of first hand experience in end to end best practice in jewellery manufacture. A recent client of the consultancy was a female led jewellery brand, Myne London, which had a mandate to source emeralds mined and polished in Pakistan.  

Vivien and the team conducted a field trip and identified two workshops that train and employ an 80% female skilled workforce in cutting and polishing gemstones. As a result, the brand has now partnered with one of those suppliers for emeralds and plans to develop their product range to accommodate other gem types that are cut by female lapidary initiatives from around the world.

As an ethically led consultancy The Dragonfly Initiative has an ethos to support female empowerment within the supply chain, whilst at the same time nurturing jewellery businesses the length and breadth of the supply chain who stand for sustainable development and show courage in their commitment to a better world in their choices of where they place their business and therefore where they place their spending power.

“We are glad we approached TDI at the concept stage of our business. They quickly captured and articulated our brand values and marketing claims and then worked with us drafting suitable policies and procedures. They identified and researched potential suppliers, arrange a field trip and conducted due diligence on the mines and the lapidary workshops. Now, we have a closed-loop supply chain and a strong partnership with our supplier. As an expanding business, we’ve definitely benefitted from TDI’s “360 degree perspective” and expertise and we continue to use their jewellers ‘helpline’ service for ongoing support when we need it . This was a real-life ‘women’s empowerment’ project, brought to life by TDI”

- Fiona Murray and Kate Gordos, Myne London.

By leveraging a combination of expert knowledge, strategic thinking and real-world experience Vivien and the team offer a truly multi-dimensional, highly-nuanced 360* perspective on the complexities of the jewellery industry. It also has a brand incubator which helps jewellery brands to design and articulate commitments to sustainable sourcing.

Myne London also state as part of their mission statement:

“We are proud to source responsibly and partner with projects who train and employ skilled women in gemstone cutting and polishing in the country of gemstone origin. We donate 10% of our profits to related foundations.”

The Dragonfly Initiative: Supporting women in the jewellery supply chain through brand incubation and sustainable sourcing strategies.

Image credits:

Myne London

The Dragonfly Initiative