Stella McCartney x The Royal Mint 886

Two iconic brands come together in collaboration for sustainability, preserving resources, and reusing overlooked waste. Sustainable fashion’s favourite eco-friendly luxury giant, Stella McCartney, and 886 by The Royal Mint, the first exclusive jewellery brand to create gold from e-waste, have teamed up to create repurposed jewellery for the Summer 2025 collection. 886 was created by the oldest coin maker in the UK, with over 1100 years of history. The best of two different worlds - mindful fashion and heritage, meet for a sustainable partnership.

So what’s so special about this jewellery? These designs have a story to tell, one that begins from an unexplored place, as they are made from gold extracted from discarded circuit boards.

Yes, you read that right and did you know that computers contain gold? The very same circuit boards that power our laptops and smartphones, contain tiny amounts of gold. But when these devices reach the end of their lives, most of them end up in landfills, harming the environment. And no, we’re not kidding, circuit boards contain tiny amounts of gold. Here’s an intriguing fact - Dell, the tech giant, once created rings and cufflinks made from recycled circuit board gold (check out our blog on repurposed precious metals for more unique finds).

Dell revealed that two hundred laptops would extract five troy ounces of gold (around 155 grams). Hold on to that thought. Globally, e-waste is rising by 2.6 million tonnes every single year, going to waste. There are two major reasons for this: (A) the sheer number of new devices being produced and (B) the enormous amount of waste left behind. 

Okay, so, why do you need to know this and why should we care? Because mining gold and silver consumes Earth’s resources, the smelting process is energy-intensive, and the pollution of air and water that comes with it is potentially harmful to the environment and it also involves exploitative labour practices. E-waste into gold could be THE ultimate alternative repurposed jewellery. What if we could give these materials a second life instead? This collaboration is proving it’s possible.

#SaveWhatYouLove

Stella McCartney’s Summer 2025 collection carries a powerful and timely message, ‘Save What You Love.’ This special bird-themed collection is inspired by author Jonathan Franzen’s book The End of the End of the Earth, which discusses climate change and the environmental crisis.

This grand collaboration, the one we didn’t know we needed, is said to be Stella’s vision, which was brought to life in jeweller's wax by Dominic Jones and then handcrafted at The Royal Mint.

From the very beginning, Stella McCartney has stood for ethical and cruelty-free fashion. Unlike many luxury brands, they do not use leather, fur, or animal-derived materials. The fashion industry is one of the biggest polluters in the world, but brands like Stella McCartney are proving that it doesn’t have to be this way.

The Royal Mint, on the other hand, is the oldest official coin maker in the United Kingdom, established in 886 AD. In 2022, they launched 886 to create sustainable jewellery using recycled gold and silver from discarded e-waste and x-rays.

And speaking of silver…

We already covered gold, but The Royal Mint goes even further by extracting silver from a completely unexpected, mind-blowing source. Moving from tech devices to the medical field, they extract silver from old medical X-ray films.

Hospitals discard X-ray films once they’re no longer needed, and instead of sending them to landfills, The Royal Mint recovers silver from them. 

Quick Facts on How It’s Made:

- Every week, 70 tonnes of electronic waste are processed to recover the gold.
- The silver is sourced from discarded X-rays from hospitals in the UK and Ireland, keeping them out of landfills.

Take a small peak on how they are made here.

The weight of carrying so much history and then shifting towards a conscious practice of reusing these metals is incredible. These two extraordinary brands have created repurposed luxury.

Even Cate Blanchett, actress and sustainability advocate, has already been spotted wearing the recycled gold dove pendant from this collection. 

Luxury can be conscious and responsible, like this partnership. This could be the future. And it should be the new norm. Not just another trend that fades with time. The practice of reusing, repurposing, and making use of existing resources with sustainability in mind must be the way forward.