Vetting suppliers is an expensive logistical nightmare

Freestyle collaborates with independent artists to create one-of-a-kind diaper designs. These unique prints are a huge beacon of their brand identity, helping them stand out in the crowded baby care market. Since they’re not mass-producing run-of-the-mill SKUs, quality control is crucial to Freestyle. 

However, they quickly realized regular, thorough quality inspections are time-consuming, costly, and logistically complex. 

• Freestyle’s suppliers are based overseas, including a factory that produces their bioplastic packaging. No one from the brand had ever visited this facility. 

• Visiting and evaluating these suppliers in person would cost $15,000 per trip (if not more) and take up a full week of the staff’s time. 

They experimented with hiring a local consultant, but it was an ad-hoc arrangement that felt disorganized and inefficient. So, Freestyle set out to find an affordable, sustainable solution to oversee production and maintain visibility on the factory floor. 

“The biggest issue for us was getting on site at the factories and making sure the products we requested were actually being created. Factored Quality is so helpful because you immediately access reliable inspectors across the world.” 

Freestyle can access local QC inspectors with experience in their product niche

To ensure their custom-designed products were consistently high-quality, Freestyle needed a QC partner who would: 

1. Have existing knowledge and experience in the baby care niche
2. Be fast and cost-effective enough to become an ongoing player in their supply chain

Factored Quality matched up to both crucial standards. After signing up, the Freestyle team simply provided their SKU and supplier details — and were immediately ready to book their first inspections. Our thorough client support made onboarding even easier. According to Russ, “We could lean heavily on our account manager at FQ. We basically did minimal work, and their team was able to go in and clean things up.” 

Even more importantly, Freestyle gained access to FQ’s network of over 2,000 trained, certified, and vetted inspection partners worldwide, including many within close proximity to Freestyle’s factories. Because FQ had already run QC for diaper brands in the past, we could successfully anticipate Freestyle’s needs, coming prepared with pre-built yet customizable checklists. 

With the Factored Quality solution, Freestyle’s quality control has become thorough, detailed, and efficient — every single time. 

“Working with Factored Quality felt like an upgrade on the ad-hoc process we had before. When you consider the price, it's very economical for statistically meaningful quality inspections.” 

FQ makes quality control a seamless part of Freestyle’s supply chain

Since working with Factored Quality, Freestyle has elevated their quality control in three key ways: 

1. Major time & cost savings — FQ inspectors save Freestyle tens of thousands of dollars and weeks of time every year. Today, they reinvest that time into meaningful growth strategy, such as building relationships with retail partners. 

2. Consistently expert-level inspections — Thanks to the FQ team’s deep supply chain and QC expertise, Freestyle’s inspections are truly detailed, effective, and consistent. “Our checklist used to be a Google Sheet with 15 items,” Russ remembers. “Now, we have charts and dashboards showing how consistently our suppliers create quality products.” 

3. Inspection reports ready in 24 hours — After every inspection, comprehensive reports are ready as soon as 24 hours later, which is crucial for a fast-moving startup like Freestyle. As Russ explains, receiving reports about defects ASAP allows his team to pause production runs or stop shipments before it’s too late. 

Before Factored Quality, the Freestyle team could only be 50% certain at any given time that their finished products were up-to-standard. Today, they can send their diapers directly to market — with at least 90% certainty that every unit upholds the Freestyle brand. 

“Factored Quality has given us confidence that we're doing the right kinds of inspections and that we can get the right inspectors on site — no matter where we are.” 

Freestyle can optimize long-term supplier relationships with FQ’s data

To date, Freestyle has only run one inspection process with us — but they’re already planning to involve Factored Quality in every single production run moving forward. 

In the short term, ensuring stronger quality control keeps Freestyle customers happy. In the long term, Russ looks forward to leveraging FQ’s rigorous reporting to make stronger, data-driven decisions about their supplier strategy. 

“My vision is to reduce decision-making about our suppliers down to quantitative data from our dashboard of reports. We only have that crucial information thanks to our relationship with Factored Quality.”