Profitability of Titanium Jewelry

Author: linalambert | Posted: 01.07.2012

In the jewelry industry today, there are a lot of choices for customers. Various styles, designs, metals, gems, and prices of jewelry available today makes it sure that there is something for everyone. With its rising popularity in recent years, titanium jewelry is a great product that makes many jewelry buyers more and more excited. But customers are not the only ones who gets thrilled by the ongoing popularity of titanium. Manufacturers, retailers and designers are also given much opportunity with the current state of patronage for jewelry made of titanium.

Many people think that titanium is a new material, a notion that is both correct and incorrect. Technically, titanium metal is not new because it has been used since its discovery in 1791 by William Gregor. But due to the laborious and high cost of processes required to extract titanium from ores, the metal has not been used outside the laboratory until 1932. Commercial use of titanium started with military and submarine applications. Then it has been used in aviation and aerospace, transportation and chemical processing industries.

In recent years, due to innovations in making the extraction process of titanium easier and cheaper, the jewelry industry has been able to utilize the metal in the creation of products that are more affordable than precious metals like gold, silver or platinum. In the early 1990's, the first jewelry made of titanium became available to the market. In the beginning, using titanium for jewelry was risky for manufacturers and retailers because the "new" metal did not have the guaranteed market compared to gold or silver. But since its introduction, customers reacted quite positively to titanium even though it is more pricey than alternative metals like stainless steel jewelry. This is due to its unique properties that give in a particular niche in the industry and attracting specific types of buyers.

Though not considered as a precious metal due to its abundance, titanium is cost relatively higher than other non-precious metals. This stems to the high cost and labor-intensive processing of the metal. Despite this, many buyers today still buy jewelry made of titanium because of its great physical properties which include the highest strength-to-weight ration among all metals, great durability, corrosion resistance and the fact that it can be available in various colors through anodization that will not fade or tarnish under normal circumstances. The non-precious status of titanium is also good for retailers and customers because unlike gold and silver, the price of titanium is not dependent on economic forces.

A great part of the consumer market for jewelry made of titanium are men who either buy it as casual accessories or as special occasions jewelry like engagement or wedding rings. Women are also great patrons of titanium accessories as more and more designers adapt the metal to their lines and collections. It unique properties that make it hard to compare to other metals with plus its history as a metal that reach outer space (titanium is widely used as materials for satellite and spaceship parts) makes titanium jewelry one of the most coveted products today in the industry, making it highly profitable for retailers and very satisfying for customers.



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