topic Re: What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands?? in Jewelry

What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands??

miss got rocks — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:00:09 GMT

I have been a member of QVC for the last 6+ years and have collected many pieces of jewelry. For example, Echo of the Dreamer, Kirks Folly, Lee Sands and many more. And these brands that I have just mentchened hav just "puffed" disappeared with in the last year. My favorite brand is Kirks Folly. I have a whole standing jewelry box filled Kirks Folly pieces that I treasure and wear everyday. And in March, they just dropped their show. Instead of trying to build the amount of customers for Kirks Folly, the do the exzct oppisit, and purpusly drag them into the ground by having them on at rediculously late hours, and not letting Jennifer and Helen present there jewelry that they felt it should of been presented. Lee Sands hasn't been on in a long time. Their are rumors that he has retired, wich is possible, but I myself haven't heard anything about what is going on from the Q. And Echo of The dreamer, a beautiful, creative line has just been let go, because they are too busy sticking bronzo up our mouths. What I want to know is why QVC has decided to go south with their jewelry lines and kicking the brands that have been the most loyal for them for most of QVC's lifetime. I am tired of seeing Bronzo. I bought two pieces just to give them a try, and I regret it. It isn't that much more to produce than the steel by design line, but they stick high price tags on it because it is "high end fine Italian jewelry" when it isn't more special than steel by design. And they continually show Judiff Ripica which is over priced for the everyday person. And one last thing, I am tired of seeing the same old regular weekly shows. Their are are 9 regular fashion shows, and 2 cooking shows, and a lot of other regular weekly programing. I know I am ranting a lot, but I am just simply sharing about how I feel about how the Q is changing. You don't have to agree with me. I know a lot won't. But I jus wish that QVC would make some changes and then I will be a customer agan.

Re: What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands??

Kachina624 — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:14:18 GMT

I think we have to assume the discontinued brands were under-performers which were dropped while the bigger sellers were kept. Buyers have become more sophisticated which is probably why Kirk's Folly was dropped. It was overly sparkly, whimsical and had limited appeal. According to their quarterly report the past couple of years, jewelry at QVC has not yielded profits.

Re: What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands??

Avril B — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:18:21 GMT

Well, sadly it's true about Lee Sands. In fact, he's sold off his entire inventory: http://fashiontribe.staradvertiserblogs.com/2013/07/30/lee-sands-unloads-inventory-of-beads-gemstones-and-eel-skin/

Kirk's Folly has a lovely website, and yes, you can buy from it too: http://www.kirksfolly.com/

Ditto Echo of the Dreamer: http://echoofthedreamer.com/

I think the folks running QVC haven't yet realized that they're no longer needed to bring us artists like these people. A little bit of research and a few minutes of searching online can provide us with all sorts of beautiful items.

Hope you enjoy the websites, and good hunting!

Re: What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands??

stazgirl — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:21:24 GMT

as far as brands go, They keep what sells and let go of those that do not, same as any B & B store. Lee did retire.

Re: What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands??

miss got rocks — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:24:08 GMT

It is ashame in this world now of days with all of the violance ant terrible things that are going on that anything can be "too sprarkly and whimsical". And to there jewelry sells being down, that is because they show the same things over and over again, and don'

to give room for other wonderful brands to shine.On 9/29/2014 kachina624 said: I think we have to assume the discontinued brands were under-performers which were dropped while the bigger sellers were kept. Buyers have become more sophisticated which is probably why Kirk's Folly was dropped. It was overly sparkly, whimsical and had limited appeal. According to their quarterly report the past couple of years, jewelry at QVC has not yielded profits.

Re: What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands??

miss got rocks — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:30:57 GMT

Thank you for letting me know. I will check out the websight for Lee Sands. It would of been nice to ben able to see is final show. I love the Kirks Folly and the ECho of the Dreamer's websights.On 9/29/2014 Avril B said:
Well, sadly it's true about Lee Sands. In fact, he's sold off his entire inventory: http://fashiontribe.staradvertiserblogs.com/2013/07/30/lee-sands-unloads-inventory-of-beads-gemstones-and-eel-skin/

Kirk's Folly has a lovely website, and yes, you can buy from it too: http://www.kirksfolly.com/

Ditto Echo of the Dreamer: http://echoofthedreamer.com/

I think the folks running QVC haven't yet realized that they're no longer needed to bring us artists like these people. A little bit of research and a few minutes of searching online can provide us with all sorts of beautiful items.

Hope you enjoy the websites, and good hunting!

Re: What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands??

miss got rocks — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:35:35 GMT

And another thing, I hope that the Joan Rivers line doesn't go of the way that Quacker Factory did when after Jeene passed away. I loved how Joan designed jewelry, and I don't want to see her line go away from her

vision.

Re: What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands??

millieshops — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:50:00 GMT

I'm seeing the same kind of differences in places other than QVC. Just Saturday I took a bit of time to visit Main Street in my town. That's something I used to do often because we have always been known as a shopping destination town and there have always been interesting things to see and buy. There still are - but the variety has changed quite a bit.

I've been a snowbird for over 10 years now, but during the past summers I had made it a point to shop downtown almost right away when I returned here in the spring. This summer for the most part I shopped the supermarket, the gas station, and CVS. Very little else, so I was stunned when I walked into one of the bigger local jewelers. There are still beautiful diamonds , but maybe 1/3 of what used to be. There are still gold and gems, far less than 1/3 of what used to be.

A large portion of that store is now well stocked with Pandora. Nothing wrong with that - it sells and I'm sure is one of the reasons they're able to survive. It's just not something I'll buy. What used to be several cases of John Hardy is down to one and there wasn't much in it.

I won't hazard any guesses as to whether the store is profitable or not because there's no way that visit tells me that. I can just say, the store is very different from what it used to be - just as QVC is.

Re: What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands??

Favorite Son — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 22:29:42 GMT

I don't necessarily believe that the terminated lines weren't selling well. I believe that the primary reason is the astronomical profits that QVC must make from selling Bronzo, which is a combination of very cheap base metals, with a little lacquer thrown on top to retard tarnishing. Also notice that most of the Vicenza day consisted of marked down losers, or advance order Bronzo. QVC collects the orders from its customers, places its order with its supplier, and the potential for overstock is drastically reduced. For the lines that are left, prices have increased stratospherically, way beyond any reasonable correlation to the price of raw materials. It is all about profit, because that is the most important thing to any company that stakeholders to whom it must answer.

Re: What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands??

ChicagoHeather — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 22:40:36 GMT

On 9/29/2014 Favorite Son said:
I don't necessarily believe that the terminated lines weren't selling well. I believe that the primary reason is the astronomical profits that QVC must make from selling Bronzo, which is a combination of very cheap base metals, with a little lacquer thrown on top to retard tarnishing. Also notice that most of the Vicenza day consisted of marked down losers, or advance order Bronzo. QVC collects the orders from its customers, places its order with its supplier, and the potential for overstock is drastically reduced. For the lines that are left, prices have increased stratospherically, way beyond any reasonable correlation to the price of raw materials. It is all about profit, because that is the most important thing to any company that stakeholders to whom it must answer.

You summed it up perfectly across the board.

Re: What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands??

Kachina624 — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 23:11:10 GMT

On 9/29/2014 miss got rocks said:
And another thing, I hope that the Joan Rivers line doesn't go of the way that Quacker Factory did when after Jeene passed away. I loved how Joan designed jewelry, and I don't want to see her line go away from her

vision.

The jewelry Joan sold in the 90's is a whole different animal than what has been sold since. I was aghast when I ordered some beads and they were plastic. I couldn't believe it. The older stuff was weighty and certainly not plastic. I haven't bought any of her things for years now. I really don't care if they discontinue her line.

Re: What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands??

Lucky Charm — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 23:33:16 GMT

I just bought my first ever piece of 'recycled' jewelry from a small jeweler I've been taking my watches to for batteries for decades.

He has quite a display of second hand JR, CP, Effy, but I saw the little blue boxes on display and bought a simple Tiffany gold band. Needed to get it sized up, but it was polished so nicely, there wasn't one scratch on it. I can't wait to get it.

Shophq has jewelry on sale for up to 70 percent off.

Re: What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands??

miss got rocks — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 01:41:18 GMT

I feel the same way. It is ashame that they have to turn to being all about the $$$ and not the customer. I watched every Kirks Folly show sence I started watching QVC 6+ years agoan many things always sold out. On 9/29/2014 Favorite Son said:
I don't necessarily believe that the terminated lines weren't selling well. I believe that the primary reason is the astronomical profits that QVC must make from selling Bronzo, which is a combination of very cheap base metals, with a little lacquer thrown on top to retard tarnishing. Also notice that most of the Vicenza day consisted of marked down losers, or advance order Bronzo. QVC collects the orders from its customers, places its order with its supplier, and the potential for overstock is drastically reduced. For the lines that are left, prices have increased stratospherically, way beyond any reasonable correlation to the price of raw materials. It is all about profit, because that is the most important thing to any company that stakeholders to whom it must answer.

Re: What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands??

autumnnj — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 01:49:45 GMT

I miss the designers (Tacori, Joe Esposito, Ritani, etc.). Their jewelry profits have gone down because they don't have anywhere near the jewelry shows they used to have. Diamonique and silver shows used to be on several times per week. During September (Diamonique month) there was a smattering of shows, not even a TSV.

Re: What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands??

Twinkiesnanna — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 01:57:17 GMT

Funny, I was just writing a review for item number J291159 ~~~Bronzo Italia Mother of Pearl cushion dial panther link watch. I returned it because the Roman numeral for the 4 is incorrect. For $120 I expect more from a watch. Funny part, it is made in Italy??

Re: What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands??

stevieb — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 03:02:53 GMT

It seems clear that QVC is intent on minimizing outside brands in favor of creating more of a focus on their own house brands and on a handful of designers that are willing to work with them to produce the sort of jewelry they want to sell and/or are so successful that their loss would create a void the QVC bosses assume they can't fill.

Re: What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands??

Seka — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 03:15:58 GMT

On 9/29/2014 Twinkiesnanna said:
Funny, I was just writing a review for item number J291159 ~~~Bronzo Italia Mother of Pearl cushion dial panther link watch. I returned it because the Roman numeral for the 4 is incorrect. For $120 I expect more from a watch. Funny part, it is made in Italy??

Was it the same as in this watch?

Re: What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands??

stevieb — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 03:30:37 GMT

Either IV or IIII is acceptable for 4 in Roman numerals. Not at all to be a smarty pants, but I think I learned that in 5th grade.

Re: What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands??

ical — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 03:35:15 GMT

On 9/29/2014 stevieb said:
Either IV or IIII is acceptable for 4 in Roman numerals. Not at all to be a smarty pants, but I think I learned that in 5th grade.

Or would that be IIIII grade?

Re: What is happening to all of the good jewelry brands??

ical — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 03:39:33 GMT

On 9/29/2014 Twinkiesnanna said:
Funny, I was just writing a review for item number J291159 ~~~Bronzo Italia Mother of Pearl cushion dial panther link watch. I returned it because the Roman numeral for the 4 is incorrect. For $120 I expect more from a watch. Funny part, it is made in Italy??

I hope you didn't write the review before you've read the link below.

FAQ's: Roman IIII vx IV on Clock Dials

Very interesting theories with much research!

http://www.ubr.com/clocks/frequently-asked-questions-faq/faq-roman-iiii-vs-iv-on-clock-dials.aspx