Nickel free jewelry has become important in recent years, and there is a lot of confusion over exactly what "nickel free" means. Why is nickel free jewelry even important?

Allergies triggered by jewelry that contains nickel cause a great deal of problems to a few people. In most cases, the problem is related to less expensive "plated" base metal jewelry components (silver plated, etc.) that contain more nickel. Nickel is a very good metal for jewelry making because it is inexpensive and very easy to work with, hence it is widely used in jewelry. Also, please note that for the majority of the population, there are no adverse effects from wearing jewelry that contains nickel.

In 2000, the European Union required that all jewelry sold there be "nickel free". In fact, they created a "nickel free standard" which states items labeled “nickel free” may contain no more than 0.05% nickel (no more than 1 part in 2000 that is nickel.) The United Kingdom actually has a more stringent standard of 0.01% nickel. The United States currently has no laws governing the use of nickel in jewelry, but a fast growing segment of our population is concerned about the use of nickel in jewelry.

Surgical steel became the default standard for those seeking a "nickel free" alternative, but in fact it actually contains a significant amount of nickel itself. Today, many "nickel free" jewelry components actually still contain nickel, but the amount is so small that it is almost impossible to test for. There are many widely used metals that do NOT contain any nickel including Sterling Silver, Niobium, and Karat Gold. "White" gold is an exception as it contains nickel to add color and strength.

Since our suppliers are generally reporting "nickel free" using the European standard, our items classified as nickel free meet that standard or exceed it. Here is how we have labeled our metal components:

• Nickel Free (contains 0.05% nickel or less)
• Contains Nickel (known to have more than 0.05% nickel)
• Unknown (untested or no data provided by supplier)
• N/A (item is not used as a jewelry component, e.g. Beading books, bead storage containers)