Jewellery line sheets and lookbooks for wholesale

A line sheet is the wholesale document of a collection: every piece, with a picture and the facts a buyer needs to order it, on a few pages that can be printed, emailed or left on a trade-show table. It is not a brochure. Buyers use it to choose, to compare against what they already stock, and to write the order, often after the appointment and without the brand in the room.

For jewellery the fields are more particular than for clothing, because a buyer is committing to materials, stones and sizes as well as styles. For every piece, a complete line sheet gives:

• A clear product photograph on a plain ground, at a consistent scale across the sheet.
• The style number or SKU, and the piece’s name.
• Metal and fineness (for example 18ct yellow gold, 925 sterling silver or 950 platinum), and any plating with its thickness.
• Stones: species, cut, size or carat weight, number, and whether natural, laboratory-grown or treated.
• Dimensions: length, drop, width, chain length, and the ring sizes available.
• Variants in other metals, stones or finishes, each with its own reference.
• Wholesale price and suggested retail price, with the currency and whether VAT is included.
• The minimum order, per style or per order, and whether sizes and variants can be mixed.
• The delivery window, and the order deadline for the season.

The cover or the last page carries what applies to every piece: the brand, the collection and season, contact details, payment terms, any sale-or-return or consignment terms, shipping, and how to reorder. For UK buyers, say in the materials line that precious-metal pieces above the exemption weights arrive hallmarked, because a retailer cannot sell them as gold, silver or platinum otherwise. Date each version, so an old sheet in a buyer’s inbox is recognised as old.

A lookbook shows a collection the way the brand wants it seen: on the body, in its own light, in the order the story should be read. It sells the idea of a collection to buyers, editors and a stockist’s own customers, and gives the press pictures to write about. It carries few facts, often only a style number beside each image, because the line sheet carries the rest.

A good jewellery lookbook mixes three kinds of picture: pieces worn, so their scale is obvious; pieces alone, so the details read; and a few images of mood that say who the collection is for. Where samples are not yet made, gouache paint-ups can stand in for the photographs.

The work starts from the collection, not from a template. Because Gemlea is a 360-degree house, the facts on a line sheet can come from the people who sourced, designed or made the pieces, and the prices from the Branding Laboratory’s own jewellery pricing. The lookbook is planned with the brand identity and the launch campaign, so its pictures reach people in the order they are meant to.

Both are made to be used: they are what Gemlea Commercial Studio takes to retailers when it sells a brand’s collection in and looks after the accounts.