Acrylic stone

An “acrylic stone” moulded plastic polished stone similar to Swarovski crystal stones.

Acrylic thread

Used in the manufacture of knitted products including hats, scarves and shawls.

Antique Silver and Antique Gold

Ink is rubbed into the product which then dries so the black ink sticks to the crevices of the product. The black colour in the product’s crevices creates and antique finish.

Bone and horn

Glitter often uses imitation bone or horn as well as plastic pearls. However, if real bone or horn is used, it comes from oxen or buffalos.

Lead

The EU currently has no law regulating the use of lead in jewellery. Since November of 2007, Glitter has begun to exclude lead from its product range and placed new, tougher requirement on our suppliers.

Feathers

We use both fake and real feathers. When real feathers are used, they come from dead birds, mainly chickens or ducks.

Rubber

Exists in products like elastic cords, rubber bracelets, etc.

Semi-Precious Stone

Also known as minerals and rocks that are not so rare but still have a decorative value. The most common semi-precious stones we use are pink quartz and jade.

Surgical steel

The term “surgical steel” applies to stainless steel, the kind of steel used in posts for earrings and for piercing. Surgical steel does not emit nickel.

Alloy (combining)

An alloy is a combination of two or more elements including at least one substance that has metallic properties. A mixture of two or more polymer materials (also known as a construction material in everyday language for plastics) is sometimes also called an alloy.

Linen

Linen is a natural material.

Lycra

Lycra is an elastic synthetic material often used in items like pantyhose.

Leather/hide

Leather/hide is processed animal skin from cows, pigs, sheep, and goats. Glitter rarely uses real leather during production of jewellery and accessories. Instead we prefer to use imitation leather made of polyurethane, PU material.

Fake hair

The fake hair sold in Glitter shops is 100% polyester.

Metal

Our metal jewellery is either made ​​of a tin mixture, a mixture of zinc, steel or brass (which is a mixture of copper and zinc).

Suede

Suede is the underside of animal skin that is brushed to produce a velvety surface.

Nickel

Nickel is a silver-white shiny metal used in the manufacture of stainless steel. All jewellery sold at Glitter meets the EU directive regarding nickel. Options available to people with nickel allergies include our plastic jewellery.

Plastic

Plastic products in Glitter’s selection are made of different kinds of plastic materials including nylon, polypropylene, polyamide, polystyrene, ABS, lucite and resin.

Plating (colour on metal)

Glitter’s jewellery is plated using an electrolyte process with, for example, gold paint. Normally with 1.5 to 3 mills which is a measurement of the plating thickness. The plating quality gets worse through contact with water, perfume and hair spray.

Plating (colour on plastic)

Silver and gold plastic jewellery is vacuum plated.

Polyester

Polyester is a kind of polymer that exists both as hard plastic (in unsaturated form) and as thermoplastic (in saturated form). Polyester fibre is the world’s second most popular material for fabrics.

Polyurethane (PU), mouldable rubber-like plastic material

Products like handbags, belts, wallets and gloves which are made of PU material do not withstand water. They are only treated to be water repellent, which means that when water comes in contact with the material, it beads up and rolls off the material’s outer layer, instead of being absorbed. The water repellent treatment is not, however, permanent. Normal wear and exposure to dirt, detergents, insecticides and other contaminants can shorten the material’s durability.

Fur

We never use real fur in our products.

Pearls

The pearls we use are made of different materials but we most often use pearls made of glass or plastic.

Sunglasses

Our sunglasses are made of plastic or metal. Lenses are often acrylic.

Sterling Silver (Glitter’s brand: Pure Silver)

Sterling Silver is another term for real silver. This is a guarantee of quality – the silver jewellery contains at least 92.5% silver. When this requirement is fulfilled, the jewellery item is stamped with 925. Glitter only sells Sterling Silver with the 925 stamp and our own identity stamp SASB.

Silver most often does not contain nickel, but it may sometimes be used as a hardener. Silver gets darker when it comes in contact with oxygen. Silver jewellery regains its lustre when it is polished with a polishing cloth or silver cleaner.

Earring posts

Surgical steel is the material commonly used for earring posts, but brass is sometimes used as well, in accordance with EU’s nickel regulations.

Rhinestones

Rhinestones are small, finely cut glass or acrylic stones. We nearly always use glass stones in our rhinestone products

Swarovski

Swarovski is the name of a leading company that manufactures cut glass stones, i.e. Swarovski crystal stones. We use Swarovski stones in some of our products. These products are marked with Swarovski elements.

Wood

We use several different types of wood in our products. However, we never use wood that is endangered. The most common types of wood for jewellery production are maple, birch and coco palm.

Viscose

Viscose is a natural material.