This Site Features Designer Jewelry That’s Sustainable And Affordable

You are a jewelry hound, prefer branded pieces and are always looking to add to your jewelry wardrobe but these type of styles aren’t always affordable or accessible to you. You are doing your part to be eco-conscious and also prefer sustainable jewelry. And, you are a tad superstitious about pre-owned jewelry. You have shopped the likes of Saks Off Fifth and the now-defunct Neiman’s Last Call but haven’t been moved by the choices. Your style and preferences seem like a tall order to fill. But only if you aren’t familiar with ShopWorn, which checks all of your boxes when it comes to the type of jewelry you desire—high style, luxe, branded and never worn before jewelry at a major discount. 

Whether you are taking a break from working, snuggling in due to the winter chill and storms or the pandemic, here are some of the finds on ShopWorn where you can hunt for treasures that are chic, cool, timeless, all at a fraction of the original cost and all in excellent condition as well as a little background on the site:

How does ShopWorn provide this type of jewelry? The company partners with authorized retailers and brand manufacturers. The formula is simple and is relevant in a space where sustainability, online sales, budget restrictions and the challenging nature of the pandemic on retail sales all converged.

Shopworn is an industry word—and the e-commerce site named after it is the brainchild of Larry Birnbaum, CEO. “The term has long been used to describe merchandise with past lives in-store displays, gently handled by staff and customers, but never consumer-owned. This subtle distinction prevents the products from being considered new, yet because the merchandise has never been bought by a customer, it falls outside the ‘pre-owned’ category. While other re-commerce platforms focus on recycling previously owned merchandise, ShopWorn stands alone in addressing what has never been owned. “

Birnbaum continues “We founded ShopWorn with a mission to provide brands with an alternative to destroying unsold inventory from past seasons or relegating them to live in the back of a safe. ShopWorn’s commitment to authenticity, transparency and sustainability solidifies the platform’s course as the natural evolution on the luxury retail cycle.” The ethos of ShopWorn is to find homes for past season’s merchandise when it’s time to refresh with new pieces without going the unsustainable route of destroying the pieces that haven’t sold. “Through its e-commerce platform, ShopWorn offers customers guaranteed authentic, unused luxury products secured directly from authorized retailers and brands at substantially below retail prices.” says Birnbaum.

When purchasing from the ShopWorn site, you are doing your part in being as eco-conscious as possible when it comes to your jewelry wardrobe. The alternative of melting pieces down to create new products is wasteful and also leads to the destruction of some truly awe-inspiring pieces that for whatever reason didn’t sell in the shops or on the websites the seasons they were purchased. Many look like they were designed today—chandelier earrings, edgy pearl designs, gold chokers, charm bracelets, link chains, stack rings and other relevant trends can be found by searching the site. One of the reasons the pieces continue to stay relevant is that trends in fine jewelry don’t change from one to two seasons to the next and the big brands create pieces with enduring style. 

Birnbaum first left the corporate world in 1999 to join his brother to sell designer clothing and accessories directly to consumers on eBay. After being featured in Fortune Magazine as an eBay success story, Birnbaum was contacted by a major player in the Swiss watch industry, who suggested he get into the watch business. This proved to be lucrative as Birnbaum went on to sell over $100 million in Swiss watches from 2000 to 2015. 

According to Birnbaum, “In 2015, a conversation with an executive of a luxury brand was the first in a series of talks that led up to launching ShopWorn.” The executive was trying to figure out what to do with the unsold merchandise in his brand’s boutiques at the end of every season. Birnbaum and the executive discussed how discounting these items to sell quicker would be damaging to their luxury image, and destroying them was out of the question. Birnbaum continues, “Selling the items as what they were — shopworn — became the best alternative. Past season’s products with past lives in store displays sold at attractive prices was the perfect solution.”

Although Birnbaum launched the company with watches, it didn’t take long for authorized retailers to see the potential in moving the fine jewelry that wasn’t selling into a space that felt elegant and timely. Once enough brands began seeing the success of this type of cycle for retailers, they were more than game when Birnbaum approached them to sell directly to the site. “Now 90{2f36692215c92488191f15c49f485bc8da437d4cca01014075d40c79880301cc} of our jewelry comes directly from the brands and the brands represented are from all over the globe.” Birnbaum reports and continues,

“We cast a wide net, not only working with brands and authorized retailers to source merchandise but also working exclusively with retailers and brand boutiques outside the United States. This allows us to offer products that may have never been distributed within the U.S. or products that may have done incredibly well in the U.S. and sold out immediately but did poorly in a foreign market. This brings our customers back to our site regularly as we get new products daily and oftentimes, only get a limited quantity of any given item. Our customers never know what they’re going to find when they hop on the site one or two days later, but they always know it’s going to be something they’re thrilled to find now because they missed out on it when it was originally released one or more seasons ago.”