Jewel Kade

Jewel Kade began with one designer and five children. After her son Jack was born, Janet Kinkade studied stained-glass making, silversmithing and soldering. She then spent nearly a year working out her own approach to jewelry. Her first pieces carried her children's initials, and friends and family soon wanted their own.

She sold at local boutiques and jewelry shows. Then she decided that small gatherings at home were the best way to tell the stories behind each piece. With advice from friends in direct selling, she founded Jewel Kade in Alpine, Utah. The company's own history says Kinkade's marriage ended days before her first meeting with new Stylists in October 2009. She kept the meeting anyway, and the company grew from there.

“One of the biggest joys Jewel Kade brings to me is seeing our Stylists flourish because they’re a part of it.”

Janet Kinkade, founder, president and designer — Jewel Kade website (jewelkade.com), 2014

The company added Poetry Custom Canvases in August 2012 and launched in Canada in November 2012. In 2013 it hired a vice president of sales with 30 years in direct sales. In 2014 it joined the Direct Selling Association, was ranked fifth among Utah woman-owned businesses, and won a Utah Best of State award for jewelry production.

Jewel Kade's signature product was the charm. Each one was handcrafted in the USA under Kinkade's direction, using pewter, hand-cut glass, German glass glitter and Swarovski crystals. The designs mixed vintage, romantic and modern looks.

• Charms: handcrafted glass and pewter charms in many sizes, including JK Cares pieces that raised money for breast cancer causes.
• Custom charms: photo charms made from a customer's own picture, and hand-stamped charms with names, dates or team colors.
• Necklaces and bracelets: layering chains, freshwater pearl strands and grosgrain ribbons with clasps for hanging charms, plus charm bracelets and crystal drops.
• Earrings: drop earrings in pearls, metal and Swarovski crystal to match the charms.
• Poetry Custom Canvases: stretched canvases printed with a family's own words, for the home or office.

Custom work ran through JK Studio, the company's design service. Brides, graduates, sports fans and new parents were all big buyers of custom charms, according to the company's own news releases from 2012 to 2014.

Sellers were called Stylists. They held home parties, took orders and could sell online. The company shipped products to the Host or the Stylist, so Stylists did not need to carry stock. An optional Stylist website cost $9.95 a month, according to the old Direct Sales Aid profile.

Starter Kit

New Stylists bought a starter kit. The old Direct Sales Aid profile listed several kits from $299 to $599, with occasional specials. In 2014 the company offered a "Party to Pay" plan: new Stylists paid only shipping up front, then paid off the kit in equal monthly payments. A "Charming Start" program gave new Stylists free jewelry and canvases for early sales. The company said it wanted every Stylist to earn the cost of her kit in her first month.

Pay and Host Rewards

Stylists could earn up to 30% commission on their own sales, plus bonuses on sales by the team they built. Top sellers earned an annual Getaway trip; one Stylist described earning a cruise to the Bahamas. Hosts earned a free gift at $250 in party sales, plus 10% to 15% of the party total in "JK Kash" and half-price items for each guest who booked a party.

Jewel Kade's website still ran as normal in December 2014. By January 7, 2015, Thirty-One Gifts had posted a page announcing that the brand was joining it. The page said the line, “formerly known as Jewel Kade,” would be called JK by Thirty-One and would be part of Thirty-One's catalog from March 2015.

“We’re so happy to welcome JK to the Thirty-One family! ... Also joining our family are the many JK Stylists who helped make these pieces so popular through their own successful businesses.”

Thirty-One Gifts website (thirtyonegifts.com), January 2015

Thirty-One said it would sell some Jewel Kade best-sellers plus new styles. By May 2015, jewelkade.com redirected to Thirty-One's site. Kinkade went on designing jewelry for JK by Thirty-One, according to a 2018 Southern Utah University profile. No terms of the deal were made public.

Today neither brand is selling. Thirty-One Gifts announced in October 2024 that it would close, and it shut down at the end of that year. Jewel Kade charms and photo charms still turn up second-hand on resale sites. People who liked the format can compare live jewelry companies on Direct Sales Aid.