Meg Strachan talks about Dorsey’s rise to eight-figure lab-made jewelry house

Ten years ago, lab-grown diamonds and stones were almost unheard of, but now lab-grown diamonds are growing at a CAGR of 9.1%, reaching a global market share of $59.5 billion by 2032. The allure of lab-grown stone is appealing to the younger generation due to its ethical aspects. We combine nature with low prices to make it more accessible. The cost of lab-grown diamonds can be up to 60-70% lower than mined diamonds.

Meg Strachan saw an opportunity to modernize heirloom items made from lab-grown stone and has since turned Dorsey into an eight-figure company with seven-figure profitability. The lab-grown jewelry brand was launched in 2019 after Strachan’s long-held desire to bring lab-grown jewelry inspired by heirloom classics to modern women. Labgrown jewelry brand. Dorsey is named after her grandmother and takes inspiration from her personal jewelry collection, which has built a strong celebrity fan base including Hailey and Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Bella Hadid and Lily James.

Mr. Strachan has more than 18 years of experience in direct-to-consumer and e-commerce, working on marketing and growth strategies for leading companies such as Anine Bing, Girlfriend Collective, Bandier, Goop, and Re/Done. She first came up with Dorsey as Anin Bing’s CMO during a trip to Paris. “My career has been at the intersection of brand marketing and growth marketing in the fashion industry. For me, understanding the consumer and how brands create content, marketing strategies, and paid marketing strategies to connect with them has meant a lot to me. I found that understanding what’s possible is my specialty, and Dorsey is really the product of all of that learning.”

“My grandmother’s name was Dorsey and she was a jewelry collector. She collected all kinds of jewelry and taught me everything I knew about jewelry from the beginning. “Layered, I was in my early 30s at the time and I wanted to start building a jewelry collection,” she explained. “When I was CMO at Anine Bing, I came up with the idea of ​​photographing Dorsey in France, where my grandmother was still alive at the time. When you go to these little shops and flea markets, you see someone’s personal collection or a really beautifully made antique. You can find jewelry. Oh, I thought, why doesn’t anyone make jewelry like this anymore? And someone should start an archive-based jewelry company with an affordable price point. ”

When she first founded Dorsey, she sought funding from VCs, was rejected everywhere, and ended up taking the company to millions in sales before receiving funding. The company has only raised $1 million in funding so far. Dorsey first launched the four-prong Riviere necklace made with lab-grown white sapphire stones for less than $1,000. That’s a fraction of the price of the mined diamond version, which sells for more than $75,000. As a one-woman show, Strachan leaned into marketing her work to women as a woman in an industry traditionally marketed to women by men. That included talking directly to customers through Instagram and word of mouth, and getting products into the hands of celebrity stylists. By 2022, the brand has grown 600% year over year and continues to grow over 100%.

“As a business owner in my early 30s, I observed how I spent my money and how my friends spent their money, and everyone wanted beautiful jewelry. I wanted a beautiful Riviera necklace, but the price was… It didn’t make any sense to me, and it still doesn’t make any sense to me. What I love about Grown is that we’re able to democratize this diamond mining industry that used to be reserved for the wealthy. We wanted to expand. Most of our customers buy for themselves. We do every cut, every color, every size. We mirror what we do with necklaces. bracelet business. And we started building a ring business and have had great success over the last few years. But we really wanted to build a modern lab-grown jewelry house. ,” Strachan said of building for Dorsey’s ideal customer.

Dorsey’s real-time digital marketing strategy and agile team sold over 1.7 million lab-grown stones in just 2023, with over 35,000 people on the waiting list. Dorsey’s deep pocket for offering coveted styles at affordable prices in either lab-grown stones or diamonds through his DTC models has positioned the brand in the fine jewelry space. Made it famous. The brand has expanded its collection to include customizable items such as lab-grown heirloom-inspired rings, occasion earrings, septum cuffs, and custom-colored Riviere- and ID-style engravings.

“Lab-grown diamonds are molecularly identical to mined diamonds; Grown is truly amazing, but lab-grown diamonds are rapidly gaining adoption because people see the jewelry and want to wear it. “We want to make that jewelry accessible to more consumers. We want them to choose and wear things based on what they like, not just what they can afford,” Strachan said. He talked about the growing popularity of grown jewelry.

From 2025 onwards, Dorsey will expand its selection of styles beyond the timeless classics for which it is known. Dorsey will also begin offering custom cuts for diamonds and gemstones, providing a more personalized touch. For Strachan, her mission has always been to provide timeless pieces that women can wear and collect, all at affordable prices.