How Mejuri Is Empowering Women

It's one thing for a brand to create beautiful products, but it's an entirely different thing for that brand to simultaneously be socially motivated. While social and political awareness at one point might have been an anomaly for a brand, these days, it's nothing short of the expectation — and a company that ignores its duties to be ethical and responsible will be left in the dust. 

According to Forbes, consumers — specifically millennial consumers — are more aware of business values and habits than ever before and are more inclined to give their business to companies with "pro-social messages, sustainable manufacturing methods, and ethical business standards."

One 2015 study showed that on average, 66% of consumers were willing to spend more money on a product if it came from a sustainable brand (via HuffPost), while another showed that an additional 81% of consumers expect the companies they interact with to make their social values public information (via Forbes). It's statistics like these that make it totally unsurprising when companies such as Mejuri are mega-successful.

Founded in 2013, the Toronto-based jewelry brand Mejuri has made a name for itself within the industry as a supplier of high-quality jewelry at relatively affordable prices. The company, whose slogan is "everyday fine jewelry," boasts selling a gamut of different styles of "semi-fine" jewelry made of 14K gold, sterling silver, 18K gold vermeil, titanium, enamel, ceramic, ethically sourced diamonds, gemstones, and freshwater pearls, per the New York Post. But the company's dedication to its brand identity doesn't stop at elegant, handcrafted products at affordable costs — it has a much bigger goal in mind.

Mejuri was founded upon CEO Noura Sakkijha's belief that the jewelry industry was too focused on the prospect of men buying jewelry for women, as opposed to women buying jewelry for themselves. "To me, the truest expression of Mejuri is mutual uplift: all of us supporting each other, and you, our community, feeling empowered to invest in yourself and, in turn, the community around you," she explained per the company's website. Otherwise put, Mejuri seeks to make products "for our damn selves," believing jewelry to be an expression of self that can be bought and engaged for every reason (or no reason in particular).

But Mejuri doesn't pay lip service to women's empowerment — it backs up its claims with strong actions. On International Women's Day in 2021, Mejuri created merchandise that perpetuated the idea of women helping women with apparel clad in the word "Golden." According to Glossy, 100% of the proceeds went to the Mejuri Empowerment Fund, which supports education for women and non-binary people.

In addition to a steadfast dedication to women's empowerment, Mejuri also boasts a strong commitment to sustainability with a conscious focus on its impact on the world both socially and environmentally. The company's mission statement keys in on the notion of "traceability," otherwise understood as the degree to which a business can track the development of a product from beginning to end. When a product is able to be traced, it becomes possible to determine if that product was created by sustainable means, in the form of environmentally friendly materials, fair trade practices, etc (via River Logic). 

As for Mejuri, through a commitment to 100% traceable gold, partnerships with ethical manufacturing companies, utilization of recycled materials, and more, it can confidently assert itself as one of the leading ethical brands within the jewelry industry (via Mejuri) — a feat that millennials would be more than happy to give a thumbs up to.