Eco-friendlier, how?

The first in South Africa, we bring you trendy jewellery that does not cost you the earth but also doesn't come at the earth's expense. Quality that will last that is also affordable.

Since our launch in 2019 we slowly made small changes to limit our environmental impact. In 2023 we were finally able to say that we are entirely waterproof and stainless steel and no longer use any new plastic packaging by introducing our biodegradable packaging.

All our jewellery is made of eco-conscious stainless steel. 

Stainless Steel is 100% recyclable and is a green product. Stainless steel does not produce toxic run-off. A huge difference can be made by brands and shoppers by choosing stainless steel over non-recyclable materials. It is also one of the least energy and resource intensive metals. It also lasts longer! It is a highly durable metal that doesn’t oxidise or rust which means it doesn’t turn green. Plus, it’s a hard material, so it doesn’t scratch easily. Stainless steel is less allergenic than jewellery made of other metals, but it still does contain a small amount of nickel.

And it isn't toxic, by itself, as it is not coated with any toxic material. So choosing a safe gold coating that is long-lasting was the next step...

Our jewellery comes with a special PVD coating meaning it’s still environmentally friendly! We set out to find not only a waterproof solution to make them last longer and easier to wear for you, but also wanted to choose the lowest environmentally impacting one. We are proud to have partnered with a factory who use PVD. When compared with other common options, this process does not create any of the hazardous waste. And, the colouring process does not limit the recycling value of stainless steel.

This also means our pieces are tarnish-free and waterproof...

PVD coating is the most modern coating process available and lasts way longer. Most fashion jewellery on the market is gold plated. Gold plating is the most common coating process and occurs when a thin layer of real gold is plated over another base metal such as brass. The jewellery is dipped in real gold, like a “bath”. Depending on the thickness of the layer of gold, this can last more or less time. But the 18K gold PVD coating can be 10 times thicker than standard gold plating and uses a titanium nitride that provides an extremely durable coating that makes our jewellery more resistant to corrosion from sweat and regular wear than the usual gold plating. This means you can swim, bath, shower, sweat and it won't tarnish which also means by our new pieces being waterproof it helps stop the cycle of throwing out your fave pieces because it would lose their beautiful colour after a few wears. 

A note on our biodegradable packaging:

Most biodegradable products create the greenhouse gas methane if they break down in landfills because in landfills they are forced to break down without the help of oxygen. And this defeats the purpose of our aim so, sending biodegradable products to the landfill in your normal garbage is just as bad. We urge you to firstly reuse the packets to store your byCARA pieces or dispose of them correctly in the compost heap or recycling bin.

What are our labour practices?

In our mission to be sustainable, transparent and fairly priced we are extremely careful when choosing our producers and suppliers. We are a South African based small business, but there is no machinery in South Africa that produces stainless steel PVD fashion jewellery or general brass fashion jewellery that is gold plated so we are not able to have a fully country-centered supply chain, and are forced to our producers in China. Be assured we have met and visited and inspected every factory we work with and can assure you that there’s no bad labour practices involved at any of them. If we suspect that something doesn't go hand in hand with our ethics we will interrupt all the agreements immediately. In every other instance such as production of our content shoots, head office, printer company etc we always hire local individuals and companies.

 All your orders get shipped in PARGO's biodegradable, locally made and locally sourced mailing envelopes.