SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY & IMPACT MANAGEMENT
Our Commitment
At Temple St. Clair, we strive to be an inspirational force not only in the creation of beautiful jewels but also in how we exist in the world.We are committed to conducting business in a manner that recognizes our responsibility towards a broad system of people, values, other organizations, and the natural world.
Our goals for achieving sustainability are grounded in our respect for human rights and in our commitment to protecting and preserving the Earth.
Human Rights
Temple St. Clair is guided by its commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as put forth by the United Nations General Assembly.
At our studio, offices, and flagship store in New York City, we are committed to providing a workplace that upholds human rights with regard to safe, fair, and non-discriminatory practices and conditions. We have always embraced and enjoyed a diverse team, and each Temple St. Clair employee is given a mandate to integrate these best practices within the framework of every individual's job responsibility.
It takes an extended global village of communication, cooperation, and transparency to mind the wellbeing of the people that we work with. We are committed to ethical working practices at home and abroad.
We have decades-long working relationships with sourcing and manufacturing partners domestically and abroad. We actively communicate to our business partners the expectation that at every touch point human rights policies and sustainable practices are adhered to, including labor practices, from child and forced labor to human trafficking. As jewelers, we must pay exacting attention to the process of identifying precious metal and gemstone vendors who demonstrate a verifiable commitment to a transparent, responsible supply chain that respects human rights and sustainable environmental practices.
This is a "living" policy; we all work together to review, refine, and evolve, internally and at every step in the supply chain. This evolution is strengthened when we actively communicate Temple St. Clair's human rights principles throughout our entire network. We invite our retail partners, suppliers, and customers to join in the ongoing efforts to support and implement these values.
Supply Chain
Temple St. Clair is committed to the responsible procurement of precious gemstones, metals, and all materials that we work with. We seek partnership and transparency with all our vendors in our upstream supply chain to ensure best practices both in human rights and environmental stewardship.
To meet our values, Temple St Clair will immediately suspend or discontinue engagement with upstream suppliers where we identify a reasonable risk that they are linked to any party committing abuses of any kind, and where measurable, reasonable attempts at mitigation are not successful. At the same time, we will engage with suppliers, central or local governmental authorities, international organizations, civil society and affected third parties, as appropriate, to improve and track performance with a view to preventing or mitigating risks of adverse impacts.
Gold
At Temple St. Clair, maintaining the highest possible standard of gold sourcing is extremely important to us. Our gold is obtained only from sustainable sources. Currently these gold sources include mercury-free mined gold and recycled gold. Our gold suppliers are Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC)-certified and utilize mining and procurement methods of the highest standards.
Colored Gemstones
At Temple St. Clair, we are also known for our use of beautiful colored gemstones. We are extremely discerning when it comes to the quality of our gems, both cabochon and faceted cuts. We have a high rejection rate in our procurement of gems, choosing each gem individually for cut, color, saturation, brilliance, and minimal to no treatment.
Certain gemstone treatments, such as heating, are accepted industry wide. At Temple St. Clair, we allow as little treatment as possible to our gems; we never use gemstones treated with chemicals, radiation, or other unnatural forms of color enhancement. For that reason, you will not find certain gems in our offerings such as blue topaz (always radiated) or dyed quartz. At most, we employ heat treatment to stabilize color (typical for sapphires and many tourmalines) or mild natural oil application (primarily for emeralds). The treatments are noted on our website as (H) for heat treatment and (O) for mild natural oil application. Whenever possible, we use gems with no treatment whatsoever. Our signature blue moonstone is an example of a gem that is not treated in any way.
Transparency around gem treatments is particularly necessary since certain treated gems may require special care; we adhere to U.S. Federal Trade Commission Consumer Guidelines to provide our clients with the information they’ll need to protect their gems for a lifetime.
Regarding sourcing, colored gemstones are often difficult to trace, since most originate from small-scale, artisanal mines. While verifying provenance can be challenging, Temple St. Clair requires its gem suppliers to identify the country of origin or probable country of origin, and to disclose any form of treatment on every gemstone that we use. Gemstones provided to us are laboratory tested on a cyclical, sample basis, and our gem acquisition staff is committed to the company's goal to achieve 100% verifiably sustainable and responsibly sourced materials.
Diamonds
Temple St. Clair diamonds are traceable and ethically sourced.
At Temple St. Clair we use only natural, untreated diamonds. Our diamonds are conflict-free and sourced only from suppliers that adhere to the guidelines established by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). Our suppliers must participate in our vendor approval program that requires signed agreements confirming that all diamonds presented to us for purchase are Kimberley Process guaranteed. In addition, our suppliers - as with all of our partners - must pledge to comply with our high standards for human rights and fair labor practices. To that end, we now purchase diamonds from RJC certified suppliers only.
Along with larger leaders in the jewelry sector, we recognize that it is vital for us to come to terms with the significant risks associated with the extracting, trading, handling, and exporting of minerals from conflict- affected and high-risk areas (CAHRAs). CAHRA's are identified based primarily on human rights threats associated with labor conditions, abusive governance, conflict, or mineral flows where undeclared high-risk sources may enter a supply chain. Accordingly, we have implemented a thorough risk-assessment management system for responsible sourcing of minerals from these areas and established policies that we widely disseminate and incorporate in agreements with suppliers.
An additional challenge within the diamond industry is synthetic diamonds. Synthetic diamonds have made their way into the supply chain of even the most reliable suppliers. At our home office, we have acquired instruments for testing all of our diamonds to ensure that neither synthetic nor lab grown diamonds make their way undetected into our jewels; we test each and every gem ourselves adding this additional layer of security and assurance to our customers.
Environmental Management & Energy Use
Temple St. Clair draws infinite inspiration from the natural world. We believe it is our role and duty to help to protect the planet in every way that we can both at work and beyond.We are committed to monitoring, refining, and improving our environmental performance by incorporating environmental factors into business decisions and increasing employee awareness through training and education.
The same attention to detail that we apply in the design process is brought to bear on every aspect of our operation, so that our actions can match our values. We have established rigorous environmental goals that comply with and exceed relevant regulatory requirements.
In practice, this means that we want to reduce and eventually eliminate our reliance on plastic. To date we have eliminated the use of plastic in our shipping materials, and we have requested that vendors refrain from using plastic in their shipping materials. When we do need to use plastic, we seek to treat it carefully as reusable material.
As far as our daily practices in the offices and studio, we seek to reduce our personal use of plastic by using only reusable materials. We seek out food vendors that use compostable packaging. At the same time, we continue to reduce the use of paper in favor of keeping purely digital files. We also manage our studio's energy consumption with attention to temperature control and an eye toward supplying all the required elements of our work - such as AC units, copiers and printers, kitchen appliances, etc. - with efficient and environmentally friendly products wherever possible.
Given its carbon intensity, we restrict our transportation to necessary trips only, and when we can, we rely on e-mail or video conferencing to communicate with our extended network of vendors, artisans, and clients around the world. When local travel is required, TSC employees make every effort to use public transportation. Just as with our office devices, when we must rent or lease vehicles, we opt for 'green' vehicles and keep them well-maintained to ensure ongoing efficiency.
For our business to achieve its goal of sustainability, we know that we must proactively communicate these measures to every member of our team, as well as to our customers. Staff members are provided with environmental training, and we work with suppliers, contractors, and sub-contractors to bring sustainability to the fore.
Our efforts cover a wide range of details and materials. We will update information here as we find solutions. We welcome input from friends and colleagues as alternatives are created and found. We are all in this together.
Philanthropy
Temple St. Clair is devoted to supporting community, conservation, and the arts. Please visit Our Causes for the details.TSC Yearly Impact Reports: