Following on from my earlier post about tribal and metallic jewellery, what is going to be the big new trend of 2012? Will metallic necklaces and bracelets continue to dominate, or will a different style surface in showrooms and jewellery shops?

As with all new trends, most suppliers will be slow on the uptake. Just as it took many jewellery wholesalers an entire year to begin stocking tribal designs in 2010, we expect many of those same wholesalers will continue ordering the old tribal designs well into 2012 and beyond, even as its popularity wanes.

The next trend? You can’t ever know for sure what is going to take off, but we feel 2012 will see a big increase in popularity for bronze tinted necklaces, bracelets and rings. We stocked a few of these lines over the past few months, and they have proven to be very popular indeed, being bought by the same retailers who were quick to buy tribal designs in early 2010.

So keep an eye on this. We may be wrong about 2012, but we don’t think so. The tribal / metallic trend will expand into bronze jewellery, leaving strong colours on the back burner for another year or two.