How Casual Carats Grew Through Influencers, Partnerships, and Lab-Grown Diamonds

By Karen Dybis | August 07, 2026

Casual Carats’ approach to lab-grown diamonds as fun fashion and a partnership with jewelry influencer and retailer Stephanie Gottlieb has the Houston-based company growing rapidly—and founder Alissa Moyse is betting its future on consumers embracing lab-grown even further.

Gottlieb’s promotion of Casual Carats has shifted the brand into a new level—and that says a lot when you have loyal shoppers like gymnast Simone Biles already wearing your work. Soon, Casual Carats will expand into additional categories including earrings, bracelets, and necklaces to fuel more growth.

A gemologist who advocates and works with natural diamonds, Moyse says she understands the industry’s concerns about lab-growns. Yet five years after she went all in on Casual Carats, Moyse says she is more convinced than ever that offering lab-grown diamonds as well as natural diamonds makes sense—it is what the consumer wants, and her brand’s combination of dynamic colors and “casual luxury” is getting them to shop.

Casual Carats Ceramic Bands — *Casual Carats offers ceramic lining and stacking bands to go with its main product, silicone rings, to create a complete high-fashion look.*

“It’s not for me to tell the consumer what is right or wrong. Who am I to tell them lab-grown is better than natural or natural is better than lab-grown? It’s a personal preference,” Moyse says.

Moyse’s jewelry story starts in 2008 when she graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree in business administration and entrepreneurship. She worked with her father, Ziad H. Noshie, at Almaza Jewelers in Houston for 13 years, joining the business he founded in 1968 after college. She received her GIA Graduate Gemologist certification in 2016.

Casual Carats emerged from Moyse’s personal experience of shuffling between her wedding jewelry and a silicone band when going to the gym. Moyse says her first simple silicone band she found online didn’t have enough bling, so she bought one with a rhinestone. However, that stone soon popped out, leading Moyse to dream up something she’d rather wear.

“I wondered if we could set a diamond in a bezel in silicone,” Moyse says. “It became a passion project. When I got the idea, I decided to go for it. I knew it could be a viable business.”

Her first Casual Carats rings used natural diamonds; initially, her smallest diamond size was about 0.035 ct. In fact, Casual Carats still offers natural diamonds in its rings if a shopper prefers, she adds. Her natural diamond silicone rings range from $495 for a cognac diamond ring to $2,550 for a three-stone yellow diamond ring.

Casual Carats Classic Collection — *The Casual Carats Natural Colored Diamond collection uses natural diamonds in cognac, brown, and yellow to create easy-to-wear yet luxury silicone rings.*

Then, the coronavirus pandemic shut down many gyms and retail stores. Moyse started to call her products “Covid Couture rings” that people could wear on Zoom calls or just around the house. Consumer interest ticked up.

“No one was going anywhere, so there was no real need to wear any jewelry. And we were all washing our hands a ton. You could wear it at home and feel like you had something on that represented that you were taken. Plus, they were fun to wear.”

Moyse in 2020 had her third child, and she made the decision in August 2021 to leave her her dad’s store to focus on her business. Less than a year later, that move proved to be the right one when U.S. gold medal–winning gymnast Simone Biles started to wear a Casual Carats ring and tagged the brand on social media.

“She somehow found us online and bought a ring. We hoped she might share it, and then she did. She put a soft tag on it on a picture. It put us on the map,” Moyse says. “She helped us legitimize our business and build trust. She’s been wonderful ever since and a repeat purchaser.”

Moyse says she met Gottlieb at JCK Las Vegas; they started talking about working together, as the jewelry influencer wanted to add lab-grown diamonds as an option to her business. Gottlieb announced in June that in a “plot twist” she was going to start selling lab-grown diamonds—an announcement that made quite a splash within the industry.

Besides selling Casual Carats on her website along with her own lab-grown diamond collection, Gottlieb wears Casual Carats in many posts, and she tags the brand across social media. Gottlieb uses her popular Instagram account to describe lab-grown diamonds as fun, fashion, and “for right now.” In one story, Gottlieb wrote: “Casual Carats was never meant to replace your engagement ring. It’s the ring you wear when your forever ring deserves a day off.”

At first, Gottlieb asked if she could get natural diamonds in the silicone bands, but Moyse suggested that the retailer would get the sales she wanted in the Casual Carats setting with lab grown. Most Casual Carats rings using lab-grown diamonds price as low as $150 for a 0.035 ct. round lab-grown diamond in silver and go up to $1,850 for a 1.1–1.2 ct. emerald-cut lab-grown diamond in yellow gold.

“We are so honored that she found us and that she chose us as one of the ways to introduce lab-grown diamonds to her followers,” Moyse says. “She loves the product and gives the best-use case for it. The fact that we have Stephanie Gottlieb in our corner helping us tell our story? What else could you ask for?”

The industry is, of course, still massively divided on natural versus lab-grown diamonds—and probably always will be—and Moyse understands their concerns. Her own father doesn’t sell silicone rings or lab-grown diamonds at his store. (That said, he is proud of her and her business, Moyse adds.)

“Anytime you introduce something new, that can be very scary. When we introduced it at Casual Carats, we also wondered if we were going to cannibalize natural. But for the sizes and shapes we wanted to offer our customers—as well as the best fit for their budgets—lab-grown diamonds made sense,” Moyse says.

“Affordable jewelry really is key right now, especially in this economy. It’s about evolving with the market. Stephanie Gottlieb and businesses like mine are listening to what the consumer wants—and if the consumer is telling you they want bigger on a budget, then give them lab-grown.”

Top: Casual Carats silicone rings with emerald-cut 0.42 ct. lab-grown diamond in yellow gold, $895 each (Photos courtesy of Casual Carats)