Amish Shah – Founder & CEO of ALTR

“Both categories, mined as well as LGDs, will earn their market share based on the efforts they make in creating value through desirability and confidence in the minds of the consumer,” predicts Amish Shah, Founder-President ALTR Created Diamonds

A third-generation diamantaire, Amish Shah, Founder/CEO of ALTR Created Diamonds and pioneer of the lab-grown diamond market has never been afraid to challenge the status quo.

After gaining experience, through his family business in the diamond industry and fine jewelry at an early age, Amish joined R & R Grosbard Inc. in New York in 2001 and helped transform it into an international powerhouse.

Ten years later, Amish took over its operations and led a merger with his family business, conceiving R A Riam Group Inc. in New York, which includes ALTR Created Diamonds. As the only vertically-integrated diamond enterprise that provides a true end-to-end product, ALTR creates the purest form of diamonds — type-IIa diamonds — known to man.

Here, in an exclusive Interview with Precious World, Amish Shah talks about the prevailing situation in the global LGD sector and tells the ALTR story with his usual confidence and panache…

Some excerpts…

Until recently, Lab-Grown Diamonds (LGD) have been marketed globally as eco-friendly alternatives. The LGD manufacturing sector expanded as well, especially in India. Do you see this trend growing further? Your views?

Consumers globally are increasingly prioritizing sustainable choices in every segment of products and experiences pushing every industry to align. The diamond industry has tried its best to surpass such consumer expectations by doing as little as possible. Since the introduction of lab-grown diamonds, the overall industry has been pushed, and a positive change is being seen. While the earth-mined diamond segment has made many commitments with slow improvement, the Indian lab-grown diamond community has made an aggressive push with implementation of solar farms to support their energy needs.

In 2016, when ALTR disrupted the conversation of choice in diamonds by introducing Lab Grown Diamonds at retail in the USA, I clearly stated that “Sustainability is not a buzzword, it’s in our DNA”. We were the first to use recycled gold for jewelry collections and E-Certs in the lab-grown diamond industry. In 2022, ALTR started utilizing Solar Energy and led the conversation in India. Today, I can proudly say that ALTR uses 100% renewable energy, utilizing solar energy for growing its Type IIa diamonds and has been audited by SCS Global. Recently, ALTR became the world’s first SCS-007 Certified Lab Grown Diamond Producer with a Sustainability Rating Score of 100. This was the lowest recorded emissions ever, achieving the highest rating in the diamond sector. This certification enabled ALTR to confirm its Net Zero Carbon footprint while establishing verified origin traceability for its created diamonds.

This is the new trend for the growers in India who are making the effort to join the conversation and build a community of lab-grown diamond producers aligned to utilize renewable energy at a growing pace. Over time, a majority of lab-grown diamond producers who will be supplying to respectable retailers and brands globally will all be certified for their energy consumption and environmental footprint.

Sustainability is not a marketing term anymore; it will be a part of the culture going ahead.

As an LGD manufacturer, do you see the LGD industry take over totally, with mined diamonds going out as unwarranted and harmful to nature? Your thoughts?

Since 2016, ALTR has educated and empowered the consumer with the right to the choice – Earth mined or Lab-grown Diamonds. Over the last 8 years, consumers have been making a choice, and the increasing numbers clearly exhibits the direction. Consumers are weighing the social, environmental, geopolitical and economic aspects and making a choice that aligns with their lifestyle and purse.

Almost 65% of all new engagement rings in USA have a lab grown diamond center while the fashion category is now over 10% with diamond studs almost at 40% based on various data sheets. The growth has been expediential in the engagement category in the last 5 years from 6% to 65%, the fashion category will now see similar growth in the next 3 years. The consumer is driving these unit sales without any marketing push from the industry.

I believe that the unit sales of the engagement diamond category in USA will mature around 80% in the next 3 years and fashion jewelry over the next 7 years growing to similar numbers too.

This reflects the consumer power to make a choice. The diamond industry is at an inflection point. As consumer behavior and preferences continue to evolve, strategies addressing older challenges will likely be critical to build and implement authenticity, and traceability standards, and align brand values with customers’ changing needs. Both categories need to focus on value creation through design and innovation.

It is no longer in the hands of the producers (earth mined or lab grown) or the trade to decide what the consumer will buy; however, they can influence the decision by aligning with consumer lifestyle and behavior

A few days ago, LGDs were dubbed here as ‘synthetics’ which sparked discussions in the Indian diamond industry. Many believe that as LGD is grown from mined diamonds, it should not be clubbed with synthetic materials. Your views?

Consumer Transparency and Authenticity of information is critical for every industry. The Federal Trade Commission ruling was published in 2018 after a lot of debate and study. I am happy that the Consumer Affairs Ministry in India and the GJEPC are working to align with the same nomenclature ensuring that India adopts to international terminology that is already being used.

There are many critical challenges that this industry needs to address, and we should not attempt to confuse the consumer in any part of the world with technical terms that can lead to us losing their confidence in a product segment.

Let’s educate them with authentic information and allow them to make an educated decision.

Is this controversy of calling LGDs synthetics making news in the USA as well? What is the reaction from LGD businesses? And how will this affect consumer-behavior?

This recent controversy was limited to India only. USA went through this journey in the early years of the category after which Federal Trade Commission published a final ruling in July 2018. This ruling made a dramatic impact on consumer confidence and the positive growth of the category. Our sales had multiplied post the announcement in 2018 despite trade establishments trying hard to create confusion for the consumer. We educated the consumer and the stores that converted the conversation into sales.

I am observing a strong advocacy of Lab Grown Diamonds in India post the announcement of alignment with the FTC guidelines. Stalwart brands (Trent-Tata Group) and business leaders (Shri Gautam Adani) are endorsing the category with direct and indirect participation. This will boost consumer confidence as well as of the entrepreneurs who are looking to enter the category and build new business models. I project that India is going to see an expediential growth in the next 5 years with consumer acceptance growing at a higher pace than USA. The emotionally driven, culturally connected, technologically savvy and economically conscious Indian consumer has a strong love for beautiful jewelry. The overall growth of the economy in India, the desire for beautiful diamond jewelry and increasing ability to spend will compound the growth of lab-grown diamonds with existing as well as the large number of aspirational consumers expanding the market size to a new high.

How is your company ALTR doing, and what are the changes, growth etc. after you last spoke about it?

When we coined the name “ALTR” in 2016, our thought was clear about representing CHANGE and bridging the future of diamonds towards Sustainable Luxury. That journey required standing up to the stalwarts that ran the industry for the last 100 years. Consumers had been questioning the trade about origin, sustainability, transparency of diamonds with few answers. The pricing model of the industry was monolithic, controlled and always seen with doubt.

Building authenticity, transparency and confidence in the minds of the consumer was going to require education in every aspect that empowered the consumer to make a choice. With continuous efforts towards establishing new benchmarks in the segment of sustainability, transparency and training over 1800 salespeople in the USA alone, we focused on category growth. We believed in empowering the consumer and offering them a choice with a single focus of earning respect and acceptance for the category.

ALTR is a pioneer in sustainable luxury. We started with simple and critical initiatives of recycled gold and e-certification in 2016 and set a new benchmark by being the lowest recorded emission generator in the diamond segment as audited by SCS Global in May 2024. ALTR is focused on the 4C’s – Creativity, Calibration, Consistency, and Compliance. Today we are aligned with global brands as an OEM supplier for their certified sustainability rated diamond supply. As the industry evolves to the next chapter, we are testing the limits of creativity, growing color diamonds with no post-growth treatment and cutting diamonds into any shape imaginable, including exclusive faceted patterns. We have designed over 100 diamond cuts in the last decade resulting into patents for our brand, retail and wholesale partners globally.

Our bridal and fine jewelry is set in recycled gold. We have expanded our product development teams that think beyond tradition, creating designs with custom cuts allowing our branded, retail and wholesale partners to promote unique design stories. Through our consumer brand, J’EVAR, we want to tell stories that connect with our consumers reflecting their lifestyle and individuality. We believe that J’EVAR is more than just a brand; it’s a movement towards a sustainable luxury.

Can you give us more information on your manufacturing setups in India? Which consumer markets are you concentrating on to market your produce?

ALTR has established a global network of innovation hubs, including state-of-the-art facilities in India. These hubs bring together cutting-edge technology, skilled artisans, and creative minds to push the boundaries of diamond design and craftsmanship. Our growing facility in Surat powered by 100% renewable energy, technology-guided artisanal cutting facilities, design and creative teams, and back-office support work seamlessly to bring our diamonds to the market.

The world is the market today. ALTR deals globally with all stages of the supply chain from wholesalers, designers, jewelry manufacturers, retailers and brands that look for sustainability-rated diamonds with net zero carbon footprint.

We are an ideal partner for anyone who aligns with our 4C’s – Creativity , Calibration, Consistency, & Compliance

Is there any solution to stop the reducing diamond prices in natural or lab-grown diamonds?

Pricing in the free world is a phenomenon of demand and supply. The days of monolithic controlled pricing structures in the diamond industry are over.

The last 24 months have been a free fall for the earth-mined diamond category with no signs of anchoring. While I can’t speak for the diamond producers and mid-stream who would like to lock and control it, I firmly believe that the only way is to bring the prices down to be realistic such that it would allow mid-stream to be profitable and retail prices to be more consumer acceptable. The current prices are still far from the same. The producers are slowly adjusting to this thought process instead of taking a one-shot approach.

The lab-grown diamond pricing is operating on a free world model. The pricing model is directly synchronized with the improving technology, higher production yields and consumer acceptance of prices. While most people see the changing prices over the last 8 years as detrimental, this is not unusual in any disruptive technology.

“The Value is in the Creation, Not the Component”: This is a very important thought that I have believed in. The Diamond Industry as a whole needs to focus on value creation through design, innovation, sustainability and storytelling. The last few decades of change in every industry have taught us that the only businesses that prevail and grow are the ones that add value to the supply chain in ways that are proprietary to them. Both categories will earn their market share based on the efforts they make in creating value through desirability and confidence in the minds of the consumer.

Let the Games Begin!