Here are five great articles to get your week off to a well-informed start:
1. What should importers know about CBP’s forthcoming tariff refund process? (WWD/Sourcing Journal)
American businesses are due billions in tariff refunds—but they may have a difficult time getting their money back. Trade lawyer Brittney Powell tells Sourcing Journal that customs brokers are already overwhelmed with the volume of refund requests and that importers may have to handle the process themselves.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has a good FAQ for small businesses trying to navigate the refund process, as does accounting firm Clifton Larson Allen. Yet while getting the refunds is meant to be automated, that doesn’t mean it will all work smoothly.
“It’s not likely that customs is going to make this process easy,” Kristin Bohl, partner in customs and international trade at PricewaterhouseCoopers tells CFODive. “If they perceive there to be some type of defect associated with your entry, they’re going to use that as a reason to not refund the tariffs.
2. Victoria Reynolds, the chief gemologist of Tiffany & Co. (El Pais)
In a lively profile, Tiffany’s first female chief gemologist, Victoria Reynolds—who has worked at the House of the Blue Box for nearly four decades—tells Spanish newspaper El Pais that her constant traveling to gem regions to scout new finds makes her feel like an “elegant version of Indiana Jones.”
Still, she also has a bit of a poet in her, especially when discussing what she loves about gemstones: “What makes them so exceptional is that the color is encapsulated forever and frozen in time. These precious stones, billions of years old, remind us of our mortality.”
3. Interview with Patek Philippe president Thierry Stern (Bilanz)
The president of Patek Philippe doesn’t give many interviews, so when he does, people pay attention. Talking with the Swiss publication Bilanz, Thierry Stern said that he plans to stay at the company’s helm for at least another decade before passing it on to his sons. He also admitted he hasn’t found a good model for a certified pre-owned program.
“It would mean refurbishing all the pieces that are returned to us, and frankly, we don’t have the watchmakers to do that,” he said. “We’ll have to find a solution. We’re working on it, but it’s not my priority.
4. Stuart Weitzman and the diamond shoes: a lesson in luxury visibility (Data in the Rough)
The author of the Substack Data in the Rough, who goes by Michelle, reflects on lessons she learned when watching designer Stuart Weitzman display a pair of diamond-covered stilettos.
The shoes “weren’t made for mass production,” she writes. “They weren’t even made to be sold. They were made to be seen.
“Weitzman understood that spectacle, when anchored in story, becomes strategy.”
5. The backstories of the jewels in Taylor Swift’s “Elizabeth Taylor” video (The Adventurine)
Speaking of spectacle, there’s been tons of buzz about Taylor Swift’s video for her song “Elizabeth Taylor,” which—in an appropriate tribute to the bling-loving star—is full of massive rocks. But for the true story of the video’s jewel section, check out The Adventurine, the Substack of noted jewel historian Marion Fasel, who gives you chapter and verse on which husband gave Taylor which diamond for which film.
For instance, only a true expert like Fasel would notice that when Swift sings about “trading Cartier for someone to love,” the video shows the actress wearing “the Cartier ruby and diamond necklace and earrings [husband Mike] Todd gave Taylor while they were on vacation.”
Fasel also this week shared her thoughts about diamonds on World Diamond Day, and included a couple of shoutouts to JCK.
Photo: Getty Images
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