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Materials used at Drip

Drip strives to use the best possible materials, while keeping costs low for you! Everything we do here is hypoallergenic and should withstand normal use.

Enduring: long-lasting.  These are our best quality pieces.  These products are made with 100% US-Grade Gold-Filled or Stainless Steel materials.  

  • Gold-Filled is a great alternative to solid gold, it is a base metal (usually copper, steel or brass) and is coated with 14k or 18k gold.  It is much more affordable than solid gold, but still has that high quality we strive for at Drip.

    To be classified as "Gold-Filled" in the United States, the product must contain at least 5% gold.  To be classified as "Gold-Plated" in the United States, the product can contain .005% gold!  Gold-Filled jewelry can withstand normal amounts of sweat and water,  It is not solid gold, but that is kind of the point! Drip's Gold-Filled jewelry is an affordable alternative and definitely a great bang for your buck. 

    However, it is impossible to keep costs low when we want to make a chunky, statement-piece with gold-filled material. That is why we have introduced stainless steel.
  • Stainless Steel: after months of testing, we finally hacked the system! We figured out why some gold-plated stainless steel is better than others.  It all boils down to the manufacturing process.  

    Ou    r gold-colored stainless steel is the highest quality you can get. 14-18k gold is chemically bonded or vacuum sealed onto the steel so that it will not fade color like typical gold-plated jewelry would. Stainless Steel is known for its hypoallergenic and tarnish-resistant properties. These styles are water-resistant, like our gold-filled styles.

    The beauty of stainless steel is that it is far more affordable than gold-filed, this allows us to create more statement pieces and keep them in your budget.

 

Almost There: aka almost gold-filled, but not quite there. HOWEVER, we have tested these products for months and they are still much more durable than the gold-plated materials we are used to.  We have also tested lots of material that did not make the cut.  We only want to make jewelry that we would personally wear ourselves. These products are made with a heavy gold-plating and are just under the threshold to be considered gold-filled. Many jewelry supply manufacturers actually market this material to me as gold-filled.  This is because not every country has the same standards as the US and they can get away with calling it gold-filled, even when it is not. (Even US Manufacturers!)  

After a LOT of science experiments, wearing 2397 bracelets at once at the beach, research and trial and error, we are pretty good at determining the difference between the two and now know what to tell our customers.  That said, the products in the Almost There collection are still very high quality!  I have LOTS of customers who swim/shower in these without any problems!

 

Please look at the jewelry care tab if you want more information on how to care for your jewelry!