Canadian jewelry company explores alternate metals to counter volatile prices

Sue Henderson, founder and CEO of Suetables, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss the pressure facing Canadian jewelers.

A Canadian company is changing how it makes jewelry by exploring alternate metals, as the prices of precious metals go up, the CEO says.

Toronto-based Suetables says its “profits are down significantly” after gold reached record highs. It plans to use metals like brass and sterling silver to make jewelry.

“We’re trying to figure out ways to pivot to catch up, and that’s looking at other materials,” Sue Henderson told BNN Bloomberg in an interview.

The high price of gold is driven by central bank buying, particularly in China and emerging markets.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in 20 years of selling jewelry,” says Henderson.

“I see on websites that prices are estimates only, and they can’t display prices in real time because they’re just changing so much, makes it very hard to run a business.”

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Henderson says the brand is leaning into demi-fine jewelry like Vermeil instead of solid gold.

“We put real gold on top of everything, and you dictate how much gold, and you don’t want to compromise on quality, so the prices are going to have to come up,” says Henderson.

A “chunkier piece” will have brass under it while Vermeil will have a thick coating of gold, she says.

The business will continue to offer direct-to-consumer products through three Canadian stores to remain competitive, she says.

Henderson said the company performed well last year because they were cheaper than their competitors.

“We decided to just leave our prices and see what happens,” she says.

“People were finding us for real gold, and we’re known more for demi-fine. So that was super interesting. But now, we’re having to pivot this year, and we’re going to be increasing our prices again.”

Changes to supply chains

The company will purchase directly from manufacturers to receive sharper input prices, she says. Manufacturers, however, charge the price of metals the day they’re delivered rather than the day they order it.

“I feel very badly for the small businesses that are going direct to local wholesalers, because every person that touches it the price increases,” says Henderson. “We’re in a good spot in that we go direct to manufacturers, but those prices are increasing from when we placed the order a month ago.”

With files from Hue Pham, BNN Bloomberg