Exchanging rings to symbolise a union and the unbroken love between a couple goes back centuries and endures to this day.  Of all the things you buy for the wedding, the dress, the cake, flowers etc the ring is the only one that is with you every day from then on.  

Ethical wedding rings

Today there are more choices than ever for those wishing to make an ethical choice for their wedding bands.  Wedding rings were the first-ever jewellery product to be made from ethically sourced gold, when Cred Jewellery introduced them in the early 2000s.

These rings were made from gold from small mining communities in South America and represented the start of journey in ethical precious metal sourcing.

Today, there are two options for traceable and ethical gold, Fairtrade and Fairmined.

A lot of companies will market recycled gold as an ‘ethical’ choice however this is misleading and does nothing to solve any of the issues that gold mining causes. Especially enviormental damage and extreme poverty.

Gold has always been recycled, if you buy a ‘recycled gold’ wedding ring your arnt helping anyone and the amount of gold mined in the world will not decrease.

What makes wedding rings ethical?

It’s the materials the rings are made out of, and where they were made that make them ethical or not.  Gold that has come from mines that implement good working practices, care for the environment and pay their worker’s fair wages are the best option and both the Fairmined and Fairtrade gold certification schemes offer this.

Where the gold comes from

Mining gold is tough and can be dangerous and badly paid so its here that a lot of the effort has gone into improving things.

If your ring has been manufactured in the UK you can be almost certain that workers enjoy good conditions and fair wages. If the ring has been made elsewhere then it is harder to know. Thats not to say that all ring made abroad will have been made in poor conditions.

Fairmined gold wedding rings

Of the two certified gold options, we feel that Fairmined offers a slightly better outcome overall though there isnt much difference