Diamonds adding sparkle to casual wear

GDO Report

Solitaire Kicks offers customers the opportunity to ice out a pair of sneakers with diamonds and design consultation provided by Prriya & Chintans. The first pair of customized shoes, $50,000 diamond encrusted Nike Air Force 1 "So Cal"'s, were presented to Big Boi at the Solitaire Kicks launch party on Tuesday night.

"I think I'm going to start a trend," said Dawkins referring to the new service, "People want customization and exclusivity to everything they have."

Adidas, Triple Five Soul and Reebok shoes decked out in diamonds were also on display, along with Prriya & Chintans' new jewelry line, ATL Jewelry Collection.

The collection is a mix of canary yellow, blue, and white diamonds with yellow gold and platinum. Some standout pieces include a men's diamond bracelet with 20 carats of square cut blue diamonds and 11 carats of square cut white diamonds for $86,000 .

"Basically up until now, we haven't targeted the buying power of the entertainment industry in Atlanta and it's a market that is so huge ... it doesn't make sense not to tap into it," said Rita Patel, Prriya & Chintans store manager.

The ATL Jewelry Collection was the first step in building Solitaire Kicks, but Patel couldn't find anyone in the U.S. to put diamonds on sneakers. "I said, that's it, I have to call my peeps," she said which is how production ended up in India.

For the company, which has stores in London, Dubai and New York, it isn't the first foray into custom jewelry design, though it will be the first opportunity for Atlanta clients to use jewels in customizing something other than jewelry.

Customers in other countries have added diamonds or other precious stones to everything from iPods to flower baskets.

Flower baskets?

"One lady, who was a fifth wife, had a fight with her husband," said Patel. The husband asked Prriya & Chintans to cover a three foot by two foot metal flower basket with precious stones to the tune of $10 or $15 million. They had to source it to Russia, Patel said.

So why are we all obsessed with bedazzling everything in diamonds?

"I think it's because it's rare," said Patel. "If they have it, they feel special and of course, when everyone stares at it, they are like, 'It's mine.'"