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Dino Cat Carrier
A veterinarian approached us to perfect her innovative invention. Armed with early, expensive-to-produce, working prototypes, she needed help transforming them into manufacturable and marketable products. We assessed her design goals, guiding her to a cost-effective solution that's now successfully on the market!
Process and Design Thinking
We recognized that her prototype's high costs stemmed from complex assembly, excessive sewing steps, and pricey materials. To tackle this, our team brainstormed smarter alternatives that would simplify the design without compromising quality.
We dove into research, sourcing new material options and rigorously testing them for durability, ease of cleaning, and overall performance. Once we identified the most promising candidates, we built fresh prototypes to evaluate how well they folded, formed, and held up in real use.
This iterative process, combining hands-on testing with thoughtful material choices, ultimately led us to an optimized, cost-effective solution that fully achieved her product vision.
Key Insights
To cut costs while maintaining (or even improving) quality and functionality, we zeroed in on smarter material choices: thicker PU foam for structure and cushioning, paired with durable, easy-to-clean PU leather. These alternatives were not only far less expensive but also perfectly suited for efficient die-cut tooling and streamlined automated sewing processes.
A key insight was eliminating redundant assembly steps. The original design relied on multiple layers and sewing stages just to achieve thickness and hold shape when folded—we simplified this by selecting inherently thicker materials that delivered the same rigidity and form in one go.
We then developed detailed production drawings and obtained tooling quotes optimized for higher-volume manufacturing. To launch quickly and affordably, the veterinarian chose an initial low-cost sewing assembly in Asia, allowing rapid market entry. Once sales ramp up, we're fully prepared to transition to advanced, high-volume tooling for even greater efficiency and scalability.
