Case Study · Wayve Wear
His time back, at break-even.
Wayve Wear self-fulfilled every order from day one. When growth started eating the founder's days, we ran his first 3PL search end to end. The goal he set: get his time back, and let shipping savings pay for the handoff.
Yahli, Founder of Wayve Wear, on the full search
The problem
Self-fulfillment was the brand. Until it was the bottleneck.
Yahli started Wayve Wear almost three years ago, making natural-fiber activewear for people who live outside, and packed every order himself from Venice, with a handwritten note in each one. Customers noticed the care. But every hour packing was an hour not spent growing, and being tied to inventory meant even a two-day trip put shipping on pause.
The other problem was invisible: the rates. Apps like Pirate Ship and ShipStation advertise steep discounts, and they're genuinely good early on. But the headline hides how much room is actually in the market.
“They make it seem like you're getting a really good deal. I didn't know you could get better rates. That never crossed my mind, that I could actually save money or break even, and get all my time back.”
The work
A search Yahli barely had to touch.
His data was already in a shared Slack channel, so the search opened with a report that told the brand's story, growth rate, product handling, where the customers are. 3PLs want brands that can grow, so half the work is making the brand as legible to them as they are to us.
From there: outreach, updates every day or two, and a funnel that narrowed to three high-quality options. Every candidate got pointed questions early. How many apparel brands do you work with? What's the total volume through your facility? A 3PL will almost never tell you they're the wrong fit, so you separate the marketing from the supply-chain reality.
“I didn't really have to do anything other than go to some meetings and do a gut check. If I were doing this by myself, I wouldn't know what to ask, how to vet their answers, or how to negotiate rates.”
The outcome
An apparel-only partner, a clean handoff, the founder back on growth.
The final call came down to two: a cheaper East Coast option and an apparel-only 3PL near San Diego. We drove down and toured the floor. Confirming that every brand in the building was apparel made the decision, and the cheaper quote still did its job as leverage to sharpen the winner's rates.
The economics land where the goal was set: shipping savings offset pick-and-pack and storage, so the handoff roughly breaks even. What Yahli gets back is the constraint that matters, his time, now pointed at the next stage of the brand.
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