Hong Kong—With consumers paying more attention to how companies conduct business, jewelry-industry leaders said reputation is paramount and warned that those who ignore it will risk future success.

"We are witnessing the rise of the conscious consumer," CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri said while speaking today at the "Importance of Reputation" seminar at the Hong Kong Jewellery and Watch Fair. "The industry is addressing this shift with guiding principles for retailers around the world. Retailers need to respond—sit up, listen and take action."

The seminar was sponsored by CIBJO (The World Jewellery Confederation), the Council for Responsible Jewellery Practices (CRJP), the De Beers Group and Jewellery News Asia.

Speakers said jewelers must pay more than lip service to their social, ethical and technical responsibilities to earn consumer trust, noting that consumers need to believe in the business and the wider industry they are buying into.

"In diamond-jewelry sales, lower trust equals lower margins," Aber Diamond Corp. chairman and chief executive officer Bob Gannicott said.

Beryl Raff, J.C. Penney's executive vice president of fine jewelry, echoed that statement, noting that a company's brand and customers are its two most important assets.

"We must protect them at all costs," she said. "The world is changing at a rapid pace, and if we do not listen, we will not thrive."

Speakers urged jewelers to action by joining associations such as the CRJP, reviewing a new guide for retailers available at the CIBJO Web site, Cibjo.org, and downloading a copy of the CIBJO Blue Book, also available at the site.

"The expression 'the weakest link' has great resonance in the jewelry industry," CRJP CEO Michael Rae said. "Following the launch of our Code of Practices in 2006, our Responsible Practices system will be launched in the first quarter of 2008. This aims to define, promote and monitor responsible practices of our members throughout the gold- and diamond-jewelry supply chain."

Also speaking at the invitation-only seminar were De Beers Group Marketing Director Jonathan Kendall and Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Co. Director Kent Wong.

For more information, visit the CRJP Web site, Responsiblejewellery.com, or the CIBJO Web site.