Jewelry Network Website
The jewelry industry's B2B network, 2008 to September 2013
The Jewelry Network was a website the Apparel Search Company launched in 2008 at JewelryNetwork.org - a business-to-business social network for members of the jewelry industry. The company sold the website's domain in September 2013. This page is its record: what it was for, how it grew, and why it ended.
The network was designed to provide a convenient place for designers, manufacturers, wholesalers and boutique owners to meet one another and communicate back and forth regarding industry-relevant issues. Its initial concept was to create a network similar to the company's fashion industry community, but dedicated specifically to bracelets, rings, earrings, necklaces, watches, gems and the rest of the jewelry trade.
Jewelry Routes
A Niche Community, Growing Slowly
The Jewelry Network launched in 2008, the year after its fashion counterpart. With a slow-to-moderate growth rate of approximately 150 new members per year, the B2B website developed into a pleasant niche community of people with similar interests. Members communicated via the industry-specific forums, the group categories and the blog system, and friends and colleagues were also able to contribute photos and videos for the network members to review.
Its groups page, linked from this page, shows the structure at work: members matched by niche within the trade - jewelry design against jewelry manufacturing, for example - with new groups added by request. Its badge page offered members a Jewelry Network badge for their own websites, the same identity mechanism the fashion network used.
One Network Instead of Two: The 2013 Sale
During the same period, the company continued improving its fashion industry community. In September 2013 it decided it could better service its network members by focusing attention on only one social network - and after deep thought and much regret, the decision was made to phase out the business networking platform at JewelryNetwork.org, and the domain was sold.
The jewelry conversation did not end; it moved. Members who wished to discuss jewelry and the jewelry industry were welcomed to the jewelry discussion group on the company's fashion network - whose own story, including its June 2024 closure announcement, is told on its record page in this section. The company's jewelry coverage continues through the guide, stores, wholesalers and news routes linked from this page.
Common Questions
What was the Jewelry Network?
A business-to-business social network for the jewelry industry launched by the Apparel Search Company in 2008 at JewelryNetwork.org - a place for designers, manufacturers, wholesalers and boutique owners to connect over industry issues, modeled on the company's fashion industry community but dedicated to jewelry.
How big did the Jewelry Network grow?
Slowly and deliberately: approximately 150 new members per year, developing into a niche community communicating through forums, group categories and a blog system, with photos and videos shared for review.
Why did the Jewelry Network end?
In September 2013 the company decided to focus on only one social network and sold the JewelryNetwork.org domain, phasing out the platform with stated regret and directing jewelry discussion to its fashion network's jewelry group.
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