Ni hao!

It's Jack here. I'm writing this from the departure gate at Shenzhen airport as I wait for my flight home to Toronto.

It's been over a year since I first reached out to this silicone manufacturer and we've been in daily conversation ever since.

Initially, we were all going to go. But Amelia has a really good routine at the moment and we didn't want to mess with it by flying her to the other side of the world.

It's the longest I've been away from her since she was born. We didn't know if she'd notice I was gone. But she definitely has. She lights up when I call home, and has even started kissing me through the phone. Which is a big deal because she doesn't kiss me in real life. I think she's scared of the beard. I would be too.

Day 1 Canton Fair

I touched down in Shenzhen at midnight. After flying for 22 hours, I wasn't enthusiastic about my 6am train to Guangzhou for the Canton Fair. The Canton Fair is a month-long trade show where thousands of vendors from all over China come to display their latest products to international buyers. I've wanted to go ever since I read The 4-Hour Workweek when I was 20.

I was a bit disappointed. There were more security guards than buyers. Not as many international companies are attending these days, because of the economy and also because you can find your factories online like we did. It probably didn't help that I missed Phase 1 which was Electronics. Instead, I went during Phase 2, which was Homewares. So instead of seeing drones and flying cars, I saw the latest innovation in artificial grass and Christmas trees. There was an entire exhibition hall dedicated to fake indoor plants. Thrilling.

Day 2 Factory Visit

Tuesday was the factory visit. I spent the first few hours at the office, meeting their design and engineering teams, and discussing the final details of the production run. We've been trialing a new silicone, which retains more of its flexibility once it's been oil-treated. In case you missed it, oil-treating silicone increases its smoothness, which increases its cleanliness because it picks up less dust. But smoothing silicone also makes it more rigid. So we've been trying to find a silicone that balances smoothness and flexibility. And we think we've found it.

In the afternoon we visited the factory itself. Even though our factory has all the certifications required to produce FDA-compliant medical devices, we wanted to see their quality control for ourselves. Sophie did an incredible amount of research into every product she bought during her pregnancy. And we assume she's not the only expecting mom to be this diligent. So we want to make sure we know our products are coming from a high-grade facility so our moms can purchase with peace of mind.

We're placing a lot of trust in our manufacturer. They have the ability to ruin us financially and reputationally. Once the product leaves the factory, it's completely out of our control. If the product is damaged, or leaking, or the packaging is compromised, we won't know until the customer receives it. And by then it's too late. Our customers are in such a sensitive time in their lives. One bad unit could be the end of mamacool.

On top of cleanliness and quality, we also want to know that our products are being made in an ethical factory. And from what I saw, it was a pretty good place to work. Sure, it's repetitive. But so is milking cows, and my dad's been doing that for 32 years. They also take a lot of holidays. They were off for all of February. And now they're off for 5 days for another public holiday.

Overall

I came away super impressed. Their products are great. Their processes are great and their people are great. Sylvia was a fantastic host. I think it meant a lot to them that I came, and they made sure I got the full Shenzhen experience. I also saw evidence that they work with some pretty impressive baby and mom brands (brands with >$100M revenue) and even make some products that Sophie has used herself. Hopefully one day, we'll be one of their big brands.

Extra side quest

On the final day, I spontaneously took a high-speed train to Hong Kong to visit my friend Sofie. It only took 14 minutes to get there which blew my mind. She runs a global community called "Girls Lift Girls" which normalizes being strong as a woman. They were hosting a yoga session on the waterfront, so I snapped some pics for their social media. Sofie is blowing up in the female athlete / entrepreneur space so I racked her brain about what she's doing on socials so we can hopefully implement it for mamacool.

Ok, boarding now. Sorry for the long email but the factory trip is a huge milestone for us.

Talk to you soon.

Cheers,

Jack (and Sophie and Amelia in spirit)

PS our pre-order is looking more likely to drop in early July now rather than June. We couldn't start production until we tried the new silicone variations and they took a while to source. But now that's confirmed, we're full steam ahead…once they return from their holiday.