This year’s honorees include a Midwest retailer and two multi-store independents, one in New York and the other in New England.
10 pieces from Alex Soldier’s new men’s line
Soldier is the latest in the line of jewelry designers to create a collection specifically geared toward men.

“The demand for men’s jewelry has grown substantially just within the past few years,” said Maria Soldier, executive director at Alex Soldier. “Men nowadays seem to be more comfortable with jewelry versus previous generations due to rapid globalization of fashion, art, pop culture and social media.”
Soldier said the brand now gets several requests for men’s jewelry at every trunk show, versus the one or two requests they would get per season a few years ago.
The new line is called Homme: Origins, and its inspired by sculptural masculinity combined with Alex’s signature metalwork, which is “reminiscent of different surfaces, like satin fabric, floating lava, tree bark or an illusion of a diamond inlay,” Soldier said, adding that “men definitely are looking for more options and styles in jewelry.”
JA New York Summer, which kicks off Sunday, is Alex Soldier’s first trade show in five years.
“We usually see everyone directly in our showroom (in New York.) This summer we’ve received a lot of show appointment requests from boutique-style stores and a decision was made to make a comeback with a show that we made our debut with back in 1996,” Soldier said. “It was a perfect timing for a debut of our men’s collection as well … to attract more stores that are currently looking for unusual men’s pieces to fill their cases with for the fall season.”
In bringing this new men’s collection to market, Soldier joins a number of designers and retailers expanding their offerings for men, including Tacori, Penny Preville and Zales.
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