It’s not unusual to hear that bracelets are a popular seller in retail stores and online. The category is a must for any jeweler, and it spans a wide range of styles. Over the years, there has been demand for every shape, size, and silhouette, from the chunkiest cuffs and styles that wrap the wrist several times, to barely-there chains and build-your-own charms. The hand bracelet, where an often intricate pattern connects the ring finger to the wrist, even had its big moment.
Today’s most in-demand styles are fairly classic and timeless—tennis bracelets accounting for a big portion—and many jewelers wouldn’t find it difficult to pull some from their showcases for a current display.
What seems to be catching the eye of many a consumer are the styles that can be personalized—initials, engravable surfaces, charms and trinkets, birthstones. But what is most surprising about this current demand is how much of it resides in the bracelet category.
“Bracelets are up big-time for us,” says Stephanie Gottlieb of Stephanie Gottlieb Fine Jewelry. “I think it’s because of the ease of wear and ability to just leave them on all the time.” Gottlieb also noted that personalized bracelets are coming out on top of the category.
It makes sense that shoppers aren’t cruising for too many rings right now. The constant handwashing and sanitizing is enough reason to store them away for the time being. But it does feel a bit surprising to learn the sales of bracelets—at least in this one case—would outpace a category just as customizable as say, pendants.
But then, maybe it makes perfect sense after all. A bracelet is something you can admire no matter where you are. A necklace most often requires a mirror (who cares to spend time gawking at their reflection when their hair hasn’t been attended to in six months?), and the same may be said for earrings.
The collecting of precious charms, both vintage and new, has been all the rage these last months, and while it has become fashionable to attach them to necklaces of all sorts, a charm bracelet is the old standby that never fades.
Charm collecting isn’t for everyone, but that shouldn’t mean someone couldn’t put together a treasured wrist piece adorned with just as much meaning. The styles pictured here account for only some of the possibilities, though they are, in fact, very good ones.
Top: Roman bangle in 14k yellow gold, $5,880; Grace Lee
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