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When reports that the potentially hazardous metal cadmium was found in jewelry from China, child safety experts urged parents to discard their children's costume accessories.
Frantic parents wondered about anything their children wore besides gold and silver. And Sticky Jewelry of St. Petersburg got an earful of questions about its products.
The concern? Sticky Jewelry makes medical ID jewelry, so it's not just for looks but for health reasons. Is it safe? Yes, but parents wanted to make sure.
So we talked with Chris Morgan, vice president of Sticky Jewelry, to find out more about the company and its products.
Sticky Jewelry is one of the world's largest producers of medical ID jewelry. How long have you been in operation and what is the purpose of the jewelry you produce?
We've been in business in St. Petersburg since 2000, specializing in personalized jewelry that's fashion-conscious and affordable. Within the personalized jewelry category, there are several sub-categories that we specialize in, including gifts for individuals, medical ID alert jewelry, and promotional jewelry and gifts.
… We discovered that many people who needed to wear a medical ID often avoided doing so for appearance sake. So, we evaluated each of the engravable fashion jewelry items we were already producing to see which styles could be adapted to become a medical ID. Today, we produce over 600 stylish and high-quality medical ID styles that are sold through retailers, pharmacies and hospitals all over the world.
What is the size of your company in terms of employees and the annual sales the company generates?
We have 33 employees and more than 130,000 customers. Being a privately held company, we don't disclose annual sales data, but we have been blessed with double-digit percentage increases in revenue every year since our inception.
Who created the Sticky Jewelry company and how did it begin?
Ten years ago, Polaroid's i-Zone camera and its sticky-back photos were the craze. Lori Torman, founder and CEO of Sticky Jewelry, saw a unique opportunity to offer teens and adults a way to wear their personal photos. … When Polaroid declared bankruptcy a few years later, Lori found herself having to reinvent the company.
Since she had already made her mark in personalized photo jewelry, she decided to move next into sterling and gold lockets. Then came medical ID jewelry, bracelets, charms, pendants and key chains for corporate gifts.
Her husband, Barry, joined the company as the vice president of operations in the fall of 2003. His 35-year background as a software designer, combined with her eye for fashion, helped Sticky Jewelry evolve into one of the world's largest online retailers of personalized lockets, key chains and medical ID alert jewelry.
Sticky Jewelry has been responding to questions from parents raised by the reports on cadmium in children's jewelry. What kind of materials are used to make Sticky Jewelry's products?
The CEH's (Center for Environmental Health) warning was aimed at jewelry which is made primarily of zinc alloy, or base metal, and which may also contain cadmium.
Zinc alloy is commonly used in children's jewelry and very inexpensive fashion jewelry items, and poses no risk to adults. But a small child who puts jewelry in his mouth can ingest any lead or cadmium contained in that jewelry, and that's what makes it potentially dangerous.
The message we've been delivering to parents is that all of the children's medical alert bracelets and pendants from Sticky Jewelry are made of 316L surgical stainless steel, which is lead-free and cadmium-free.
All of our adult medical IDs are made of stainless steel, as well. For medical ID jewelry, surgical stainless steel is always the best choice.
Do you sell directly to consumers? How can consumers purchase Sticky Jewelry, and what do the products cost?
We sell more than 2,800 unique, personalized jewelry and gift items directly to consumers through our secure Web site found at www.StickyJ.com.
… And, since we are the manufacturer of many of our products, we also offer those items at wholesale.
Unfortunately, our shop is not open to the public since there is no way for us to put all of our items on display, but we do respond to e-mail and we do accept phone calls.
Ivan Penn can be reached at ipenn@sptimes.com or (727) 892-2332. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Consumers_Edge and become a fan of Consumer's Edge on Facebook.
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