Links of London is proof the crazes come and go

Some years ago now, Jewellery Focus was alone among the British jewellery trade press in suggesting that the explosion of ‘affordable brands’ through the indies was, firstly, not going to last, secondly, a bad deal for jewellers, and therefore thirdly, not a cause for unalloyed celebration. Subsequently, many of these brands which had served as locomotives for the indies while the price of gold was sky high and punters were still reeling from the financial crisis, began to abandon their springboard retail partners in favour of opening own-brand stores in direct competition on Britain’s high streets.