High-end bling: Tiffany's launching men's jewellery collection

NEW YORK: Tiffany & Co. is launching its first comprehensive jewellery collection for men in October as the upscale chain taps into a trend popularized by the likes of Jay-Z and John Mayer.

The move, announced Thursday, is part of Tiffany's strategy to attract millennials and pump up sales, which have been dampened by a decline in spending by international tourists.

Historically, Tiffany's has offered classic men's accessories like money clips, cuff links, rings and conservative jewellery. The New York-based luxury jeweller will still to carry those items, but now is adding more modern takes on men's high-end jewellery.

The new men's collection includes nearly 100 designs ranging in price from about $200 to $15,000 for jewellery, and up to $75,000 and beyond for men's home furnishings and accessories like cocktail shakers, ice tongs and beer mugs.

Tiffany's plans to create distinctive outposts for the men's collection in each of its 300 stores around the world, according to Reed Krakoff, the company's chief artistic director who developed the collection.

High-end jewellery is popping up on men's fashion runways at Gucci and other big luxury brands, said Robert Burke, an independent fashion consultant. He also pointed to the influential Dover Street Market stores in London, Tokyo and New York, which are highlighting men's jewellery. Saks Fifth Avenue's New York flagship this fall is also opening a jewellery area called The Vault that will showcase high-end men's watches.

Global sales of men's fine jewellery reached $5.8 billion last year, up 23% from 2013, according to Euromonitor International, a market research company. That's still dwarfed by women's fine jewellery, which reached $33.2 billion, up 14% from in 2013, according to Euromonitor.

But sales for men's luxury jewellery have shown healthy increases.

"Men all over the world are wearing jewellery and more accessories as part of a wardrobe," said Krakoff in an interview with The Associated Press. "You started to see it on the runways, in social media."

Krakoff said that the men's business hasn't been a big focus at Tiffany, but there's a big opportunity given that half of the company's global customers are men. The vast majority of them buy women's jewellery, he says.

"We have a captive audience," he said.