EXCLUSIVE: Brilliant Earth Expands Its Roots in the Bridal Category With Signature Collections
Brilliant Earth is launching signature bridal collections Thursday with engagement and wedding ring styles inspired by nature.
The move is meant to further the brand’s presence in the bridal market.
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“Design has been incredibly important to the company really from the beginning,” said Beth Gerstein, cofounder and chief executive officer of Brilliant Earth. “What we realized is that we could create something that is distinctive and unique — that is really beautiful from all angles.”
Gerstein said Brilliant Earth aims to build brand equity through its signature collection designs.
The brand is rooted in bridal and has seen growing demand in the category, Gerstein said, with double-digit growth in the first quarter of this year. The debut of the signature collections is meant to offer customers more options that can be customized.
“We see an over performance in our designs that are really exclusive and proprietary for us,” she said. “That’s something that is an area of investment for us as a company because we see consumers respond so well to it and we know that these are highly coveted designs. Bridal is an area that is the first purchase for our consumer, so it’s really important that we capture that first consumer into the bridal category. Bridal is really the origins of the company, so it’s important that we continue to invest in it as a category.”
Brilliant Earth has long been focused on sustainability, ethical sourcing and traceability, and the collections are meant to honor that by taking inspiration from natural elements, all while utilizing the brand’s recycled 18-karat gold and ethically sourced diamonds.
This inspiration is seen through styles like the Willow engagement ring, which is designed with a twisted band that’s meant to mimic the appearance of vines and blue sapphire side stones that reflect a floral motif. There’s also the Camellia engagement ring, which is designed with an intertwined prong detail and milgrain, with vintage floral inspiration.
The collections also offer wedding bands with diamonds, emeralds and sapphires.
The growth in Brilliant Earth’s bridal category comes at a time when the brand is continuing its retail expansion. In recent years, Brilliant Earth has quickly grown its retail footprint across the country with bridal showrooms. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Brilliant Earth operated out of nine showrooms in the U.S. The brand now has 37 showrooms, with plans to open three more this year.
“We’re very data driven,” Gerstein said about Brilliant Earth’s retail strategy. “We have a lot of data in terms of where our consumers live and where they shop. It really starts with the customer overlay in terms of where they are and then we layer on top of that adjacencies, like demographic information. There’s a lot of research that goes into it and then we make sure that all of them will exceed the ROI that we need.”
Brilliant Earth will open its first ground-level showroom in New York’s NoLIta neighborhood in the fourth quarter. It will be the first space that showcases the brand’s full assortment, including both bridal and fine jewelry.
Fine jewelry has also been an area of growth for Brilliant Earth, as the company recorded a 45 percent increase in the category in the first quarter of the year. This growth can be attributed to the jewelry styles’ lower price point in comparison to the bridal category, as well as Brilliant Earth’s recent fine jewelry expansion, especially with the launch of its Sol collection last fall, which Gerstein said would be expanded this year.
Brilliant Earth’s net sales in the first quarter 2024 were flat year-over year, generating $97.3 million compared to $97.7 million in the first quarter of 2023.
“There’s a cycle to everything,” Gerstein explained. “There’s definitely some normalization that’s happening now with some peak years happening a few years back. We’re going to start to normalize over the next coming years. Obviously, we can’t control the number of engagements that happen, but we are continuing to gain share in all environments and what’s really important is that the brand is continuing to have a lot of momentum.”
The launch of Brilliant Earth’s signature bridal collections and its retail expansions are meant to continue this momentum. Aside from the NoLIta store, Brilliant Earth is opening two additional showrooms in Boston this year.
Going forward, Gerstein sees more areas of opportunity both in the bridal and fine jewelry categories, all while homing in on Brilliant Earth’s mission of utilizing sustainable practices and high-quality materials.
“There just continues to be an opportunity to differentiate in a number of ways, so we do it on design, we do it on the diamonds that we offer and on traceability,” she said. “It’s really about talking to customers about what’s important to them, their values, and doing it in a way that is relatable to them.”
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