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How to Identify Best Quality Rhinestones and Crystals
There’s an important reason why investing in the best quality rhinestones and crystals is now more important.
For the coming season everything that sparkles will potentially turn to gold – retail gold!
From subtle shimmer to full on bling, consumers love eye the eye catching effect of crystals and rhinestones. The brighter the sparkle, the more attractive the product will be.
The trend has extended beyond traditional categories such apparel, bags, eyeglasses, jewelry and dress shoes. Both Nike and Adidas are rolling out crystal embellished sports shoes.
Home textiles are picking up on the trend, too!
Why Better Quality Rhinestones and Crystals Matter
To many brands and manufacturers, all rhinestones and crystals seem like they are the same. The only difference is price.
However, with rhinestones and crystals, like with most things, you get what you pay for.
Cheaper crystals are cheaper for a reason.
“Typical stones, the round ones, need to be perfectly round with the cutting evenly placed around the stone,” said Lexandra Chan, vice chairman of Lian Industrial Co, Ltd. The Hong Kong-based manufacturer is one of world leading producers of both stones and the components used to attach them to garments and other products.
“The stone is like a mirror, or lens. When the light hit it, the reflection will be affected the shape or the angle of the cutting. In other words, the better, the cutting, the more sparkle you’re going to get out of that stone. So it has to be very precise,” she told Inside Fashion.
Cutting the larger stones is easier, but for those tiny stones that are used on watches and glasses, it is very difficult to make the cuttings precise.
Also, if you don’t follow each procedure in the making of the stones very carefully, you can end up with stones that are dull and lifeless.
“If there’s some procedure that you didn’t follow very well when you produce them, they will eventually turn yellow or black,” said Ms. Chan.
“It’s not just cutting. After you have applied the foil on the back of the stone you have to take care of it very carefully. This plating will affect the reflection you get. Better quality rhinestones and crystals have greater reflection and are shinier.
After cutting the stones you have to clean it off very carefully because sometimes some chemical is left on the crystal and that will also affect it to turn yellowish or black,” she said.
“We had a customer in Italy who bought cheaper stones from China. They turned black and yellowish very fast – like within a month!”
Poorly made rhinestones and crystals can turn color as quickly as in within a few weeks. This problematic for retailers, who are selling garments that no longer look the way they did when they purchased them.
For brands, this means returned merchandise, refunds – and sometimes penalties.
Thus, the cost of cheap materials can actually be very expensive.
The Right Technology for the Right Stones
Lian developed proprietary machines for cutting stones.
“We couldn’t find these machines on the market when we started the company, so we hired an engineer to develop machines for us.
“The machines you see in the market in China are often made by engineers who came up from our company. They simply stole our technology,” she said, adding the technology though is about 10 years old.
“We continue to invest in updating our technology. We have computerized our machines now.”
Beyond the technology, materials also play a role in creating the best quality rhinestones and crystals.
Lower quality materials can often contain contamination or debris. This will impact the shininess of the stones.
One of the most difficult colors to archive is the red shades. The color is not stable and so it takes a lot of skill to maintain color consistency throughout the production.
Turning a Problem into an Opportunity
Some times a problem can lead to an opportunity. For Lian this was when they were making imitation in the 1970s and found that getting a reliable supply of colored stones was nearly impossible.
Most rhinestones and crystals were produced by Swarovski and Preciosa and were sold through agents, who demanded that factories maintain large deposits with them. Even then, it was a matter of luck if you’d actually get the stones you needed, according to Ms. Chan.
“Customers for our imitation jewelry wanted colored stones, but often we had to turn them down. You can see that back in those days or earlier, most imitation jewellery mainly used the white crystals. This was because colored stones were difficult to get.
“My father had the idea to manufacturer his own stones so he would have what he needed. Then other factories started to ask if they could buy stones from us. So my father thought ‘why not become sort of a supermarket for stones’? We could manufacture and stock the stones in many colors and people could buy from us,” she said.
So in the 1980’s Lian became a manufacturer and seller of stones. Currently, the company has about 100 colors available, with minimum orders as low as one pack!
The company still makes imitation jewellery, as well as buckles, buttons, and other components that go with rhinestones and crystals.
Making a Best Quality Rhinestone and Crystal Motif Even More Beautiful
A part of crystal applications are motifs that can be applied to garments, bags and other products.
However, all motifs are not created equal.
“The cheaper ones use the same size stones throughout the entire design. Our motifs use at least three different sizes. This creates a 3D effect, which looks richer and more eye catching,” said Ms. Chan.
Customers can send their designs to Lian and the company will produce the rhinestone and crystal motifs for them.
It also important to have good quality glue to affix the motif to the product.
“The hotfix glue we use on our motifs is wash-tested. It is test for up to 30 washes. I think it can last for more washes, but the standard test benchmark is 30.”
Real Service from Real People
Service is something that many companies claim to have, but few actually deliver on.
Lian provides customers with an ‘open door’ to contact them at any time for technical support or customizations.
“Customers can contact us at any time to discuss their production. Unlike with bigger companies where you have to go through many departments, we can make a decision on something right away.
“If there’s a problem, we will work with the customer to solve it. Of course, if the product is defective, which can happen, we will replace it. But we also try to understand that if there is a problem when you use our rhinestones and crystals, why this happened. We will do tests to see if maybe the materials on, for example, the buckles or buttons are not reacting well with the garment fabric. Our aim is to solve the problem so it doesn’t happen again,” said Ms. Chan.
