Hoop Earrings

Gold hoop earrings are the most engineered piece in fine jewelry and the least discussed. Here is what the engineering actually involves.

We make gold hoop earrings from 10mm to 50mm and the engineering between those two sizes is completely different even though they look like the same shape scaled up. A 10mm gold hoop is essentially a bent wire with a post, perfect as small gold hoop earrings for everyday wear. A 50mm hoop earring is a structural challenge because gold at that diameter wants to oval out under its own weight and the hinge mechanism has to be robust enough to open thousands of times without developing play. We went through four hinge designs for our large 14k gold hoops before the current version passed our durability test. The test involves opening and closing the hinge 500 times with a weighted fixture at the Athens workshop. Versions one through three developed wobble before 300 cycles. Version four made it to 500 with zero measurable play and that is the hinge we now use on every hoop earring above 30mm. The goldsmith who designed it keeps the three failed prototypes in a drawer. He says they remind him that obvious shapes are not obvious to build.

Our small hoop earrings in the 10 to 20mm range use a simpler click post mechanism because the forces are lower, but the wire gauge is proportionally heavier to prevent bending. Whether you want small gold hoop earrings for women for daily wear or statement sized gold hoop earrings for going out, the engineering is what separates our hoops from the ones that wobble after six months. Hoop earrings should click shut and stay shut. That is the minimum and too many jewelers treat it as optional.

See our full earrings collection, our solid gold earrings, or our diamond earrings for stone set styles.

Browse by size. For the smallest hoops that sit tight to the lobe, see our small gold hoop earrings. For huggies that clasp close to the ear without hanging, browse our huggie earrings. For hoops with diamond accents along the curve, see our diamond earrings collection. For pairing with a layered ear, build a curated earring stack. For the complete gold earring range, see our gold earrings or our 14k gold earrings collection. Every hoop earring ships free within the US, handcrafted in solid 14k or 10k gold.