Jewelry manufacturers and custom jewelry manufacturers, USA

No minimum is normal at US casting houses

Small brands search for low MOQ jewelry manufacturers because overseas factories quote 50 or 100 pieces per design. At US casting houses the minimum mostly does not exist. Stuller in Lafayette, Louisiana advertises no limits and no minimums, though it sells only to trade accounts with a resale license. Carrera Casting in New York answers its own FAQ question on minimum order quantity with one word: no. Casting House in Chicago says there are no minimum order requirements, and Lukas Casting House in Los Angeles says there is no strict minimum. MJJ Brilliant and LA Jewelry Manufacturing say the same.

The exception proves where minimums come from. Hoover and Strong in Virginia casts 1 to 20 piece orders in 3 to 4 business days when you provide the wax, and reserves metal molds for large production over 500 pieces. Rubber molds and wax injection make small runs cheap; hard tooling is what needs volume. Custom Fashion Jewels in California says no minimum order quantities on its homepage and a typical MOQ starting at 50 pieces in its FAQ, so ask which one applies to you.

The India based suppliers that market to US brands publish per design floors instead: JewelPin states an MOQ of 10 pieces per design with a $1,000 minimum order value. For comparison, most low MOQ manufacturers in other categories gate on units; in US casting the gate is the model.

The gate is the model, and almost nobody prices it

Every cast piece starts as a CAD file, then a printed resin or carved wax model, then usually a rubber mold that makes wax copies for each run. That first sequence is where a new design costs money, and it is the part jewelry manufacturers least often price in public.

We found two published figures. Casting House charges a $100 CAD fee on custom fancy shape ring orders, offers a two day turnaround on standard CAD designs, and takes a non refundable deposit on any new model, mold or CAD drawing for card and cash accounts. Stuller charges a CAM fee per piece and a cancellation fee of $50 to $150 after 90 days. MJJ Brilliant's terms list CAD and design fees as non refundable without giving the amount. Carrera fixes minor file problems at no charge and bills what it calls major surgery.

So the honest way to budget a first collection is per design, not per piece. Ask every maker for four numbers for each new design: CAD, model, mold, and the unit price at two quantities. A design that needs a $100 CAD file and a rubber mold is cheap to test at 10 pieces; a design that needs hand fabrication or a metal mold is not, and you want to know which one you have before you commit.

Who keeps the mold and the CAD file

This is the clause most founders never read. Stuller's CAM service agreement says it retains ownership of any models or molds it creates based on your submitted design, and that it has no obligation to deliver the CAD file. Casting House says it will store your mold, without stating who owns it. The other 11 US makers we read say nothing at all.

Why it matters: your mold is what lets you reorder a bestseller in days, and your CAD file is what lets you take it to another caster. If both stay with the first maker, switching means paying to rebuild them. Put ownership on your first purchase order: the CAD file is delivered to you, molds made for your design are yours, and the maker will ship them on request. Some casters will agree, some will price it, and a few will say no, which is worth knowing before the first run rather than after.

Nobody publishes plating thickness, so you have to write it

Of the 13 US jewelry manufacturers we read, none states a plating thickness in microns for its own work. That leaves the most important spec on a fashion jewelry piece to the buyer, and the FTC Jewelry Guides, 16 CFR Part 23, set the floors your hangtag has to respect.

Gold vermeil must be sterling silver coated with gold of at least 10 karat, with a minimum thickness equivalent to 2.5 microns of fine gold. Because the rule counts fine gold, 12 karat plating needs about 5 microns to reach the same equivalent. Gold filled requires a mechanically bonded layer of at least 10 karat gold making up at least one twentieth of the metal weight; at one fortieth the correct terms are gold plate, gold overlay or rolled gold plate. Gold electroplate needs at least 0.175 microns of fine gold.

Only MJJ Brilliant publishes a vermeil figure, over 2.5 microns, and Essentials Jewelry in Jaipur states 2.5 plus micron vermeil. For stainless steel jewelry, PVD coating is the usual gold finish, and MJJ lists it. Write the karat, the microns and the base metal on the purchase order, and ask for a thickness report on the first lot.

Lead and cadmium rules for jewelry sold in the US

California sets the strictest jewelry rules in the country, and most US brands design to them. Under Health and Safety Code 25214.2, adult jewelry must be made of listed materials such as stainless steel, karat gold, sterling silver and platinum group metals, or keep electroplated or unplated metal under 0.05% (500 ppm) lead, plastic under 0.02% (200 ppm) and coatings under 0.05%.

Children's jewelry, meaning for people under 15 in the California law, is tighter: no more than 100 ppm lead, 90 ppm in surface coatings, and no more than 300 ppm cadmium. Federally, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act makes a children's product with more than 100 ppm lead in an accessible component a banned hazardous substance, and the CPSC singles out children's metal jewelry. Children's products also need a Children's Product Certificate.

We do not do regulatory classification. Ask each manufacturer for a material declaration or third party test report for your alloy and plating, keep it on file, and treat any maker that cannot provide one as a risk flag.

A US address is not always a US plant

Several jewelry manufacturers that rank for US searches cast elsewhere, and most say so if you read far enough. MJJ Brilliant has a New York office and a Long Island center, and its production runs in a Mexico facility under USMCA rules, which it markets as duty free. Casting House operates sites in Chicago and Bangkok. Essentials Jewelry has pages titled for US and New York brands and a factory address in Jaipur, India. Mangla International has city pages for New York, Los Angeles and Rhode Island and describes itself as a manufacturer in Jaipur. Custom Fashion Jewels lists a California address for shipping purposes only.

The makers that state in house US production include Empire Casting House (factory on West 46th Street in New York), Kaprielian and AJC Jewelry in Manhattan, Carrera Casting in New York, Lukas Casting House in Los Angeles, Hoover and Strong in Virginia, Stuller in Louisiana, and MCM Technologies and Lee's Manufacturing in Providence, Rhode Island, the historic center of US fashion jewelry. If Made in USA is part of your brand, confirm where the metal is cast and where it is plated, because they are often different places. The same check applies to handbag manufacturers and most other accessory categories.

What to send a jewelry manufacturer for a real quote

Send the same brief to every maker. Include a CAD file or dimensioned drawing, the metal and karat, the plating and its thickness in microns, stones and settings, the finish, and the quantity at two levels, your first run and your 12 month volume. Ask five questions in writing: the minimum, the CAD, model and mold charges per design, the lead time and when the clock starts, who owns the mold and the CAD file, and what lead or cadmium documentation they provide.

The clock start varies more than the lead time. Lukas casts in 1 to 2 business days from the moment it receives your wax models or approved CAD files. Stuller quotes 10 to 15 business days and a resin or wax preview in about three. Hoover and Strong quotes 10 to 14 business days for a new model and mold. Custom Fashion Jewels publishes 2 weeks of development, 3 to 5 days for molds and 3 weeks of production. MJJ quotes 2 to 3 weeks for repeat styles after designs are approved.

Suppliers writes that brief from a plain English description, sends it to the shortlisted manufacturers and keeps their answers side by side. If you are still comparing makers by name, our shortlist of the best jewelry manufacturers for small business ranks them on what they publish. For packaging the finished pieces, see custom packaging manufacturers.