How Abby Care turned event merch into a family conversation starter

Abby Care focuses on family caregiving, helping train and support family members who care for loved ones at home.

As the team prepared for its first large-scale partnership event, they knew their merch needed to do more than display a logo. It had to help them connect with families.

The challenge: Finding merch that could actually support a conversation

At their events, Abby Care would be speaking with parents, caregivers, and children with developmental disabilities or other specific needs. In that environment, attention can be hard to hold.

Joshua Fang, who led most of the merch process for Abby Care, explained that “it’s often difficult to be able to get parents to talk to you for more than 10 seconds because the kids are off doing something else or wandering off.”

That made product choice especially important. Abby Care needed something that could engage children while giving the team a more natural opening to speak with parents about their services.

The team also had to work within real startup constraints. They needed merch that could be sourced quickly, fit the budget, and drive more impact than a standard event giveaway.

Why Abby Care chose Wayo

Abby Care found Wayo while searching for a more direct way to source merch without working through multiple layers of middlemen. As a lean team balancing fast-moving priorities, they wanted a partner who could help them move quickly and source products tailored to the families they were trying to reach.

Wayo helped Abby Care explore options that were more thoughtful, interactive, and relevant – without breaking their budget or forcing them to settle for a generic giveaway.

The result: Merch that helped Abby Care show up with purpose

With Wayo, Abby Care created merch that did more than look good at an event. It helped the team stand out, connect with families, and make every physical touchpoint work harder.

The standout was a custom color-matching fidget sensory toy – a product that felt immediately stood out from the typical event giveaway.

More importantly, the toy gave children something engaging to focus on, creating a small but important opening for the Abby Care team to speak with parents.

For Abby Care, those “extra 20 seconds” mattered. The toy created space for the team to talk with parents about how Abby Care supports caregivers and helps make care at home more sustainable.

Wayo also helped Abby Care show up as a more recognizable team. Branded apparel made the team look coordinated on the ground and helped families quickly identify who represented Abby Care.

When an external logistics issue put part of the merch order at risk, Wayo moved quickly to find a local solution and make sure Abby Care still had the products they needed. That level of ownership mattered, especially because customer service had been a pain point with previous vendors.

For Abby Care, the experience proved that Wayo was not just a merch vendor. It was a partner they could depend on when the details mattered.

What’s next

After the event, Wayo became the go-to merch partner for Abby Care across event giveaways, team apparel, and custom products for future moments.

For Josh, Wayo’s value showed up in the day-to-day process: fast Slack communication, quick sourcing, and a team willing to explore ideas without making the process feel burdensome.

“Having Wayo’s support has genuinely made my life and my job a lot easier,” Josh said.

As Abby Care continues growing, Wayo gives the team a better way to create merch with purpose – helping every product become part of how they show up for and connect with families.