CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
OUR SUSTAINABILITY PLEDGE
We believe that jewellery should last forever. This is reflected in the timelessness of our designs and in the integrity of our materials. By working in real gold, we celebrate this naturally occurring and endlessly recyclable, precious metal.
As a business, we believe in buying less and buying better and so intend our designs to be worn, cherished, and passed on for the next generation to enjoy. We want to be the best that we can be for people and the planet and believe that the world should not have to be harmed in the name of luxury.
As such we are embracing the challenge of changing our business to be as sustainable as possible and have partnered with Positive Luxury to help us on this journey.
POSITIVE LUXURY
We’re proud of our Butterfly Mark certification, but we’re not stopping here. We recognize there is so much more that can be done. We want to continually improve our sustainability performance so every two years, we will re-certify to an even higher standard than last time.
Explore how we scored.
The Connected Butterfly Mark shows you exactly how we scored in the Butterfly Mark Assessment. We invite you to take a closer look at how we performed on things like our impact on climate, nature and water, how we treat our workers and communities, how responsibly and ethically we run our business. You’ll see what we’re good at, what we’re getting better at, and where we need to improve.
PEOPLE
As a female-led team, it’s imperative that we champion all women. Whether that’s through charity partnerships bringing education to young girls, or brand collaborations with other female-owned businesses, we want women to feel empowered by their purchase decisions and fashion choices. We firmly believe everyone has a role to play in gender equality and we aim to hit community milestones by raising a further £3 million over the next three years to support young women through The Brilliant Breakfast for The Prince's Trust.
Annoushka has a long history of collaboration with suppliers that in some cases spans over decades. The absolute requirement is trust and shared beliefs. Our sourcing selection is the integration of: Social, Ethical and Environmental performance of our suppliers and their operation transparency. This commitment is aimed at ensuring that our production of fine jewellery continues to have a beneficial influence and aligns with our core values.
PRODUCT
Every step of our process is carefully considered; from the choice of materials, to how they are made, and their lifespan once they make it to our customers. Starting by the gold source: using recycled metals has been a primary focus for the brand since 2021, to combat the negative impacts of mining – environmentally and socially. As a business we made the decision to work with these materials based on environmental reasons; there's no need to continue mining for raw materials when we already have so many resources in circulation around the world.
We have reached a point where today, 95% of our gold is recycled and we are holding ourselves accountable to reach 100% recycled gold as soon as we can. By undertaking to use recycled gold, we are aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goal No 12, which is Responsible Consumption and Production. To us, it seems obvious to recycle the gold already in circulation - which holds the same value as newly mined gold - but has far less environmental impact. We hope that others will follow suit.
PLANET
We are actively working on reducing our Carbon emissions, through every stage of our product life span from sourcing materials to shipping and displaying our jewellery. Having switched to Recycled materials we have already reduced our carbon emission but our long-term goal is to achieve full net zero status.
In 2022 Annoushka signed the SME climate Hub commitment - by doing so, we are aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 13 for Protection, and Climate Action we recognise that climate change poses a threat to the economy, nature and society at large, our company commits to take action immediately in order to halve our emissions by 2030, achieve net zero by 2050, and report and disclose our progress yearly. In doing so, we are proud to be recognised by the United Nations Race to Zero campaign, and join governments, businesses, cities, regions, and universities around the world that share the same mission.
We hire talent without prejudice and our expert workforce is made up of 20 nationalities and 14 languages. To ensure these values are reinforced by our workforce, we provide training on equality, diversity and unconscious bias.
By doing so, we are aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goal No 5 for gender equality.
Our staff’s health and well-being is paramount and we understand that flexible working gives our team the chance to create their own work-life balance. We pride ourselves on our maternity policy, meaning our team do not need to choose between parenthood or their careers and has an open-minded sickness policy. Through Covid-19 the team were offered a mindfulness course to help support some of the challenges that the pandemic highlighted.
The Brilliant Breakfast
The Brilliant Breakfast for The Prince's Trust is a public annual fundraiser, that generates money for disadvantaged young women and girls in the UK. It was set up by Annoushka founder, Annoushka Ducas in 2019, specifically to help women - and is the only annual fundraiser dedicated to enabling disadvantaged young women in the UK.The money raised enables young women to access education and employment and the skills to empower themselves and the lives of women around them. To date, hundreds of fundraising breakfasts have been hosted across the UK by members of the public, raising more than £2 Million pounds and helping over 900 young women.
Learn how you can get involved in this year’s campaign by visiting https://www.thebrilliantbreakfast.co.uk/
Give A Future
As an entrepreneur, Annoushka was naturally drawn to the work of the charity Give a Future. In Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, they offer business support, small loans as little as £35 and practical advice to women who want to provide for their families. Annoushka is currently supporting 650 women through the Give a Future microfinance programme and hopes to extend her support to another 300 women every year for the next three years.Read more about Give a Future here
A keen globetrotter, Annoushka collects her gemstones on her travels around the world, sourcing rare and unusual stones of exceptional quality and character. When she buys a particular set of gemstones, she has often been to the mines and personally met with the people with whom she is trading. Having been working in the industry for over 25 years, she has forged many personal relationships with the stone dealers based on fair dealing and mutual trust. Both Annoushka and her stone dealers adhere to and enforce the standards established by the Kimberley Process.
In sourcing our diamonds, we try to go beyond the measures imposed by the United Nations Kimberley Process, we try to determine where each stone was cut, polished and set so we can ensure that all the people involved in the making of our jewellery were given a fair deal. If one of our suppliers was ever found to be in violation of that process, we would immediately cut ties with them.
Lifetime Guarantee
We believe that jewellery should last a lifetime. This is reflected in the timelessness of our design, the integrity of our materials and the quality of our craftsmanship. Annoushka guarantees that all our jewellery will be free from manufacturing defects for the life of the jewellery. If you believe your piece has a manufacturing defect; we invite you to return it to us for inspection at our workshop. If we determine your purchase is suffering from a manufacturing defect, we’ll repair the jewellery or, if we think it’s appropriate, replace it. If the item is no longer available, we may, at our discretion, give a refund equal to the selling price of the original piece.If we determine that the damage is not caused by a manufacturing defect, then we’ll notify you immediately and let you know if we can repair the piece and the cost.
Please note that with handmade pieces slight irregularities and variations in craftsmanship or natural characteristics are to be expected. Inclusions, visible or otherwise, in coloured gemstones are individual to each piece. These characteristics are considered as part of the character of the gemstone and shouldn’t be considered a defect.
Complimentary Cleaning and Inspection Services 1/6 Diamond Rings
We recommend diamond rings are checked and cleaned annually or sooner if they suffer any trauma. Inspections may help prevent the loss of a stone and extend the life of your jewellery. This cleaning and inspection service is free of charge to Annoushka customers on their Annoushka rings. We simply ask that you cover the cost of shipping back to us, and we’ll pay for return shipping. Repairs to your ring mounting can also be done at this time at our standard cost.SUBMIT YOUR AFTERCARE REQUEST
Conditions and Exclusions
To take advantage of our Manufacturer Warranty and complimentary services please ensure that you are a registered customer. These services and warranty are available only to the person who purchased the jewellery from Annoushka and have registered their details against the purchase.You will appreciate that any maintenance or alterations performed by someone other than Annoushka will void your Manufacturer Warranty.
Fine jewellery is just as susceptible to normal wear and tear or damage as the rest of us. This is particularly true for rings since hands are regularly subjected to considerable hard wear as we go about our daily lives. We cannot provide warranties for damage due to normal wear, product loss or loss of stones. Damage or loss that results from failure to carry out repairs necessary to maintain the integrity of the product are also not covered.
Some examples of common jewellery issues that are not covered by our warranty:
- Dents, knicks and scratches do happen and with wear are inevitable and are not considered a defect.
- Discolouration due to exposure to chemicals/rings that have been damaged or misshapen as a result of rigorous activities, such as weightlifting, rock climbing, gardening, DIY etc. This includes cases where damage results in loss of precious stones.
- Prongs and precious metals, in general, wear over time and may require “building up” or restoration work as normal wear.
- Bent, caught or worn-out prongs(s) which could allow a stone to fall out or be lost due to normal wear or other damage.
- Lost stones or a stone has fallen out due to chipping or breaking caused by normal wear or other damage.
- Generally accidental damage such as when a chain breaks because it becomes caught on something, such as clothing, or is pulled perhaps by a child. Jewellery is not designed to be indestructible.
While most people find it takes a little bit of time to adjust to wearing a fine piece of jewellery, we recommend you follow the care instructions provided with your order.
Anything abrasive making contact with the ring will affect the finish. For example, workshops sometimes even use scouring pads to create a matt finish—that is how easy it is to alter a ring’s appearance!
While it’s possible to have a ring returned to us so that its original finish can be restored, for any special finish (other than “polished”), our warranty doesn’t cover the cost of re-doing the finish. We can quote you on the cost of re-doing the finish.
It is within the Ilo Ilo province that the pearls have been sourced and personally selected by Annoushka herself from a single artisanal farm..
Annoushka’s great admiration for the rare calibre of golden pearls lead her to acquire these directly from pearl farmers and their skilled divers, whose painstaking work and cultivation of these awe-inspiring gems often goes unrewarded when the pearls pass through many hands on their way to auction..
Due to an increase in tropical storms and typhoons such as the devastating Haiyan in 2013, their livelihood and way of life has come increasingly under threat. With a strong appreciation for their extensive labour, attention to detail and skills, sourcing direct from the farm provides the remuneration needed to fund and rebuild their businesses..
It is the diamond embellished leaves of the Golden Pearls collection that signifies the new beginning for these talented pearl farmers.