| I love Chinese FWs. But I can't see that they could ever be a tangible threat to the Australian SS industry. Paspaley, Autore, Kailis etc are names that to the general jewellery buying public, are steeped in quality and desirability. Clever marketing, yes. But there is a huge perception in Australia that CFWP are not "real pearls". That's annoying, but it's also not going to change anytime soon. My customers like the fact that they can buy a great looking strand for a couple of hundred dollars. Most of them would still like to own (and many many of them do) a gorgeous SS strand as well. They don't think of them as alternate categories of the same product, but as distinctly different products. |