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Today ’ s millennials and Generation Z have an ethical conscience and it ’ s because of this reason that lab made diamonds have increased so much in popularity
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Unless you ’ re an expert it is becoming harder and harder to distinguish between lab-made , synthetic diamonds and real ones . Thanks to technological advancements lab made diamonds are now similar in quality , cut , and clarity to those of natural ones add to that they are cheaper and cleaner to create it is no wonder that lab diamonds are now the go to choice for nearly 70 % of today ’ s youth when considering buying an engagement ring .
The idea of creating diamonds in a laboratory is not new . Scientists have been at it since the mid-19th century , armed with the knowledge that diamonds are the product of carbon that ’ s exposed to high heat and pressure but applying this in a lab environment remained elusive until the 1950s .
Since then , three different techniques have been developed to produce increasingly authentic-looking synthetic diamonds . This applies to their appearance , as well as their physical properties such as thermal conductivity , electron mobility and hardness , which can even be superior to natural diamonds . Thus , over the last few year synthetic stones have begun to appear in jewellery stores as rings , necklaces and earrings
Many jewellers and retailers market synthetic brands under their own white label aimed at targeting three types of consumers ; the conscious consumer those who don ’ t want to be associated with the practise of “ blood diamonds ” - diamonds that have been used to finance conflict and of course , the money conscious consumer - those unable to or unwilling to pay the staggeringly high price of a mined diamond and the new throw-away consumer – those looking to be seen in the latest designer style and jewels only to replace them once a bigger or better alternative appears .
To the naked eye synthetic diamonds look the same as a mined diamond and many within the diamond industry have condemned the practise citing there use is deceiving buyers but with major players such as De Beers now creating their own version it shows a significant shift in the way lab made diamonds are now being perceived .
With this in mind we take a look at the top players in the synthetic diamond industry :
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