Body Jewelry Evolution: Manufacturing And Technology

Since times immemorial, body jewelry has been a crucial part of many ancient cultures, using it as a sign of honor and bravery or significance symbols in stages of life. In the modern days, body piercing and jewelry have a contemporary use: to proclaim individuality, standing out from the crowd and not just go with the flow. This does not mean that body piercing jewelry is a practice of rebellion but more of establishing identity and with the changing social perception today plus the importance of asserting once character, it plays a important role for person to person.

Jewelry used in body piercing has changed dramatically. Ancient civilizations once only used natural materials like bones and horns of animals but now, modern jewelry utilize alternative metals like stainless steel, titanium and others. Currently, there is a wide variety of materials used including contemporary metals to man-made materials like acrylics, plastics, carbon fiber and more which provides huge choices for both consumers and retailers. Though the rising trend of organic body piercing jewelry is reviving the use of natural materials like wood, animal bones and horns which further enlarge the market for such products.

The use of alternative and contemporary metals gave entrepreneurs and retailers more opportunities to expand. Most manufacturing process of body piercing jewelry is in the form of mass production, utilizing automated machineries to keep up with rising demand. Stainless steel body piercing jewelry is currently very popular because of its unique characteristics that include durability, affordability, resistance to corrosion and flexibility in producing many types of jewelry. Titanium is also rising in popularity in body piercing jewelry because like stainless steel, titanium can be processed to have various colors and can even look like precious metals like gold using anodization. Stainless steel on the other hand can be produced to have different hues and sheens using PVD coating technology also known as physical vapor deposition.

Previously unavailable, smaller gauges of body piercing jewelry is now getting more and more popular due to the comfort and design styles available. Designing body piercing jewelry has evolved with more and more high end brands and designers expanding to body piercing jewelry instead of just focusing on established markets of fashion or costume jewelry. Also, people who do not wish to have permanent body modification can purchase non-piercing body jewelry like magnetic or clip-on jewelry.

Distribution of body piercing jewelry is mostly wholesale that retailers, piercing shops and other novelty stores can offer to customers in a wide range. Wholesale body piercing jewelry is also relatively cheaper for retailers and piercing shops compared to designing and producing their own. Being low cost, piercing jewelry offers buyers more choices. In a market view, body piercing jewelry has been a profitable and resilient venture for many retailers as it has been able to resist unstable economic crises like the recession. Many piercing shops reported that their profits remained the same during the period while other markets plummeted.

The body jewelry and the piercing industry have come a long way: from the ancient practice of only using natural materials and crude piercing techniques to using modern and even high tech materials and manufacturing process. With improving technology and piercing techniques, the body piercing jewelry industry is believed to grow more and more in the future.