The third annual Chicago Responsible Jewelry Conference (CRJC) will take place October 25 & 26 at Columbia College in Chicago. And the third annual Responsible Gem Boutique will take place Thursday October 24, 2019, in Chicago’s Jewelers Mall.
Consumers are demanding more information about the origins of their goods and the conditions in which they were produced and mined, and the US State Department is increasingly concerned with jewelry industry supply chains. Creating transparent, responsible supply chains is now at the top of the list of things the jewelry industry must do to protect its financial interests and ensure future growth.
The CRJC is an international jewelry industry conference with a mission to further the movement of "Responsible Jewelry." This year’s conference promises to be informative and educational, with an impressive lineup of presenters and panelists. Confirmed for this year are speakers representing organizations including Responsible Jewellery Council, Cortez Pearls, Jewelers Vigilance Committee, Human Rights Watch, Google Earth, NGOs IMPACT and PACT, the World Bank, the US State Department, US Southern Command (Navy), the Department of Defense, National Geographic, Moyo Gems, Gardens of the Sun, the World Bank, Ethical Metalsmiths, the FBI, and the Enough Project.
Content will include discussions about creating short and direct supply chains, how to practically implement responsible initiatives in your business, presentations about improvement efforts from around the world, and discussions about what we must do better and how we can do that.
One of the things that makes the Chicago Responsible Jewelry Conference different is that our goal is to create direct conversations and information sharing between all members of the jewelry supply chains, from miners to marketers. No other conference in the world creates this kind of synergy throughout its supply chain. Conference representatives come from a variety of international associations, mining organizations, gem cutters, and gemstone suppliers, including the Tanzanian Women's Mining Association, Patricia Mweene of Zambia, who represents Zambian Gem Cutters, and Jagdish Patel, Director of People Trailing and Research Centre in India. Ian Bone of Capricorn Gems will be bringing an assortment of responsible gems from Australia to the Responsible Gem Boutique. Stuart Pool will be traveling from the UK to join the Gem Boutique. And we have representatives from women’s mining associations joining from Kenya and Tanzania. The Chicago Conference enjoys significant participation from six continents.
Please take a look at our websites, and then buy your tickets today. Past attendees tell us repeatedly that the Chicago Conference is transformative. You will join a vibrant community of thinkers and do-ers, and learn more than you thought possible in three short days.