Consistent product quality is critical for new brands

Halfdays started looking for manufacturers during the COVID-19 pandemic, so they couldn't travel to visit their factories before signing on the dotted line. 

This was complicated by the fact they were a new brand. Sending orders with defects like skipped stitches or faulty snaps isn’t the best way to gain loyal customers. These issues could be traced to an absence of feedback from their manufacturers. 

• The factory did not give Halfdays the info they needed to modify designs for peak functionality and comfort. 
• This caused an abundance of returns — and even a product recall. 

“We didn’t have visibility to production and the factory wasn’t giving us enough feedback. So, we started implementing Factored Quality as a solution across the board.” 

Lindsey and the Halfdays team looked for a QC solution that would simultaneously: 

1. Allow input on every step of the production process
2. Be intuitive and easy-to-use for the whole team

Thankfully, they discovered Factored Quality, which fit the bill in two key ways. 

1. FQ provides customizable QC mechanisms

When someone at Halfdays has a key clothing detail (i.e. complicated construction, specs within tolerance) that they worry the factories may not get right, they no longer cross their fingers and hope for the best. 

Instead, they can flag what they need QC inspectors to pay special attention to — and Factored Quality ensures their vetted inspectors will look, even for the smallest details.

2. FQ keeps QC operations clean and straightforward

Lindsey’s team basically fell in love with Factored Quality’s online booking system and how easy it is to adjust shipments and inspection dates to fit their schedules. Because clothing production is a complicated process, they wanted everything on the ops end to be as simple as possible — and Factored Quality delivered. 

“The platform alone led me to choose Factored Quality over competing options where either you have to call someone or the factories deal with everything directly. We wanted to have more control. And with Factored Quality, we can.”

FQ ensures inspectors are catching product flaws first

Since working with Factored Quality, Halfdays has been able to adapt their QC processes to their specific needs. Garment production is rarely straightforward, but being able to alter and enforce QC standards through a simple conversation with the FQ team has been a lifeline. 

In addition, Lindsey’s team receives detailed QC reports with insights to continually improve production and fuel metric growth, including: 

• $20k+ saved in travel costs yearly
• $130k reduction in returns errors by catching issues prior to leaving the factory
• Quality control completed in days vs. months with limited bandwidth on internal teams

“I've been really happy with the service from FQ. The reports are really clear, the videos are great, and the ability to just have a conversation and tailor things to our QC needs has been amazing.”

Factored Quality sets up Halfdays for reliable product quality at scale

Halfdays is planning for their next production run in June 2023 — and Factored Quality will be a key partner in that process. Not only does Lindsey plan to continue using FQ to monitor QC mechanisms, she’s actually “excited to do a factory audit” for the first time since Halfdays was founded. 

Above all, Lindsey emphasizes that FQ is an easy-to-use platform that delivers powerful results on product quality, allowing Halfdays to be confident in every unit they ship to customers. 

“I love the ease of Factored Quality and think it’s a really great platform. The biggest benefits are having visibility and assurance before we put any product out there that it is actually up to our brand’s rigorous standards.”