We recently connected with Paige Froese and have shared our conversation below.

Paige , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Quality control is a challenge almost every entrepreneur has had to focus on when growing – any advice, stories or insight around how to best ensure quality is maintained as your business scales?

My company started small—I started selling maybe one item a week, leading to me being able to take more time on each item. However, as it has grown, there have been times where I have to make 10 stuffed animals or more in a single day. Maintaining quality is of the utmost importance, and as such, I do quality control checks on every single item. I inspect every seam, pressing my fingers against spots that may be weak, and ensure there are no points at which the item could break.

First starting out my business, I had one or two cases of people reaching out to me due to items having seams that broke within the first year. I always apologized and would offer a refund, but I knew I needed better ways to test products so that this wouldn’t happen. This is what led to me being exceedingly careful with every item.

For people concerned with quality as they grow, I would always suggest to take the most caution possible. Building and maintaining rapport is of the utmost importance, and this is only possible when customer’s don’t have their items breaking. When you can, be more careful than you think you’ll need to be.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I began sewing in 2021 as a hobby to combat the loneliness brought on by COVID-19. I started small, making a few plushies here or there, but have grown over time. I now sell stuffed animals from my online store, along with in person at Arcadia’s Cauldron in NH, and occasionally in person at pop-up markets.

Along with stuffed animals, I occassionally make bags and keychains. The stuffed animals I make the most are bat plushies, which I have made over 250 of. I also make custom stuffed animals, and have made everything from memory bears, to roomba plushies.

The thing I’m most proud of is probably the 6′ wingspan bat plush I once made. It was a 2 month long project, taking over $70 in supplies, and weighing over 10 pounds. The customer wanted a bat so big its wings were essentially a blanket, and although it was a large undertaking, it turned out amazing and I’m very glad I took it on.

Being a small business, I stand out because of my personal one-on-one conversations with customers, making sure that no matter what they’re left happy with their orders. Along with this, I’m still a student, so between sewing and shipping out orders, I’m in school. This limits my time, but I do try my hardest to still focus on my business when I can.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I started out my business assuming that I would be creating items targeted towards younger children. This led me to making plushies that would appeal to a younger audience—from fox and hare dolls, to regular plush bears. However, I noticed that sales were low, and no one seemed to be interested. Deciding I may as well make items I felt like making if I would have low sales anyways, I began making bat plushies. Standing at 6″ tall, made of plush fabric with fun cotton or flannel wings. After posting them for the first time I got more likes than I had on any of my previous posts.

I pivoted immediately, making mainly bat plushies as I saw orders roll in. As I paid attention to the people buying these items, I also noticed it tended to be women in their 20s to 30s. As such, I began buying more prints that would appeal to this demographic, and bought new patterns that I knew would appeal to them more than a doll or bear would. Since then, my business has thrived, all because I made the decision to pivot.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I believe that the main reason I maintain such a solid reputation in my market is because I take quality seriously, and communicate with customers.

Life happens, and sometimes things are delayed—whether because of school, or because of family matters. I’ve realized that customers understand this, so if there is ever a delay, the most important thing that I do is let the customer know. Of course I always apologize, let them know when I’ll get the item out, and I include an extra sticker or small item in order to make it right. This communication is all it takes for the customer to feel more solid about ordering from me, and often leads to them feeling more positive towards their purchase and interaction.

Quality control is also major. In the beginning when I was more lax with my quality, I did have a few people reach out with defects in their item. I always apologized and refunded the purchase, but I know they would still feel worse about my brand. Because of this, I began checking every single item for quality before shipping it out. I have not had any quality complaints in the past 2 and a half years, and it’s all because I make sure that every item is up to my standard.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://alarminglyadorablecreations.square.site/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alarminglyadorablecreations
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlarminglyAdorableCreations