Diamonds have always been a big part of the jewellery world. This is particularly true of engagement and wedding rings – for a long long time, the most popular kind of rings have been diamond cushion cut engagement rings. However, it would seem that a lot of things are changing. These days, diamonds are becoming less and less fashionable, for a number of reasons.

The largest reason, of course, has to do with the publicity surrounding the nature of conflict diamonds, which are diamonds that were created by exploiting people in less developed areas of the world, such as Africa. Obviously, this had a huge impact on the reputation of diamonds – no longer were they seen as the “innocent stone”, or the gem of love, but more as the gem of dollars and profiteering. This was not good for diamond companies, and it makes perfect sense that they began to lose market share, in spite of taking several efforts to certify diamonds as being “free from conflict.”

This led to the second reason, which is that people have started to realize that diamond prices are just too high, in most cases. For a long time, people believed diamonds were expensive because they were rare, but now we know that this is no longer true. Diamonds are no more rare than, say, bananas, or any other kind of stone. The only reason they are perceived as rare is because big diamond firms keep a very careful watch on supply, and restrict it wherever possible, in order to ensure that they are able to keep making a profit.

For this reason, we are seeing a lot of people move to diamond substitutes, such as moissanite or cubic zirconium. Moissanite engagement rings have taken the place of diamonds as the most popular kind of engagement ring sold – this represents a clear shift in customers’ tastes, as well as their price sensitivity. The days of diamonds would appear to be over.