We are often asked about the difference between our regular rhinestone and our premium rhinestones besides the pricing.
Sparkle Gear Premium Rhinestones have an amazing bling factor in both bright light and in low light.
Our Premium rhinestones are a high facet, 12-14 facets per stone. The colored stones have a rich color pallet as well. These stones go above and beyond the industry standard for rhinestone apparel. We make all of our finished products on sparklegear.com with the premium rhinestones. Our Portfolio is full of pictures with all of our stone colors.
Our regular rhinestones are an 8-10 faceted Korean Rhinestone. They have wonderful sparkle under the lights, but won’t sparkle in low light. They are beautiful, apply easily to clothing and are very consistent in in size, shape, and color.
Premium Rhinestones
This is the rhinestone we use on Sparkle Gear clothing and bags.
It is a high-brilliance machine cut rhinestone. The facet count on the rhinestone is typically 12-14 facets. The extra sparkle in these rhinestones is due to their finer edged cutting, giving them sharp and smooth facets. These stones have brighter colors as well.
The process used to make these rhinestones is very good and produces a very consistent product visually and mechanically. I would guess that in a batch of 150,000 rhinestones we might find less than 10 that have a problem. The consistency is important because it is time-consuming to handle the differences during the production process.
Regular Rhinestones
Sometimes these rhinestones are called “Korean” rhinestones. Not as brilliant as the machine cut rhinestones, but still really nice. They are lower priced than the premium rhinestones. The colors are slightly different from the machine cut stones.
The process used to make these rhinestones creates a visually consistent product. However there is more mechanical inconsistency. In a batch of 150,000 rhinestones, we might have a 100 or more that have a problem.
We often use regular rhinestones on our car decals because in outdoor light their sparkle is excellent!
There are other options…
The only step up from the premium rhinestones we use would be using a machine cut Czechoslovakian rhinestone. These rhinestones cost more than 10 times more than what we are using.
Besides cost, there are other issues with using these rhinestones in an everyday application. It is also a common belief in the industry that the glue used to adhere these rhinestones does not work as well across the breadth of materials that we use for our products. The Korean and Machine cut rhinestones use a super-strong glue that works on the largest selection of materials.
Because the intended application of the Czechoslovakian rhinestones is high-end fashion, it is likely that the manufacturers use a technology that is more acceptable to the fashion houses and designers they target. We would guess they are concerned about causing damage to a fragile, light fabric that might be used in a couture garment during the rhinestone application process. And are not concerned about making sure a rhinestone doesn’t fall off a canvas bag or t-shirt that is worn every day. If this is true it would make sense to use a less active and penetrating adhesive.
On the lower end, there are even more options. The most common options are known as China A and China B. These are mostly single and double faceted rhinestones. They are very inconsistent in color and brilliance, and also vary a great deal mechanically.
These might be rhinestones that would likely be used if you bought a shirt with rhinestones in one a big discount store, or purchased transfers online from one of the large China-based supply houses. Hobbyists may choose these because they are very inexpensive, and the inconsistency isn’t an issue for them. It is also reported that it can be difficult to find a manufacturer, importer and distributor team that has put these very low-cost rhinestones through the lead testing requirements necessary for commercial distribution.
