NEW GROUP SEEKS TO PROMOTE JEWELRY
NEW YORK — An effort to start a promotional and advocacy organization called the Fashion Jewelry Foundation is being spearheaded by jewelry sales representative Michael Gale and the United Jewelry Show.
“Fashion jewelers haven’t necessarily worked together to promote what they do,” said Gale, who is president of Gale Associates, a Providence, R.I., fashion jewelry firm with showrooms there and here, and chairman of the UJS, a trade show held in Providence.
“We’ve been somewhat of a tag-along industry up until now, in the sense that we have only picked up on trends after they’ve shown up elsewhere,” Gale said. “Barbara Bush’s pearls are a good example. Women wanted to wear them because she wore them, and we did benefit from that, but not by dint of a trend we had created on our own.”
Gale said the foundation plans to work with fashion designers, with the fashion media and in other areas where jewelry could be promoted, such as the entertainment field. He sees his group’s work dovetailing with the efforts of the Accessories Council, formed nearly a year ago to promote all categories of accessories.
“We want to work with everyone to show that fashion jewelry can really add to anything, from a fashion shoot to a runway show to an outfit for an awards dinner,” he noted. “For instance, we’d like to work with fashion designers and find out what they’re showing for a season, and then provide them with an assortment of original sketches for jewelry pieces that they can have made for use on the runway.”
This month, the foundation will begin recruiting members and will target not only manufacturers of fashion jewelry but also primary suppliers and retailers.
“We’d like to get as many members as we can so that each member will only have to pay a small amount to be involved,” he said.
In March, Gale said, the foundation plans to hire advertising and public relations agencies.
“We’d like to start up some promotional and advertising activities in time for weddings, prom time and Mother’s Day,” he said.