How Tandem cut the friction out of ordering company merch

Tandem orders a lot of merch. Between outfitting its team and preparing for events, founder Rafi Sands was deeply familiar with the process – and the friction that often came with it.

With Wayo, Tandem found a simpler way to buy for a business, combining the ease of ordering online with the support Rafi expected from a professional vendor.

The challenge: Merch was harder to buy than it needed to be

Ordering merch online seems like it should be simple. But in Rafi’s experience, that simplicity often disappeared as soon as he was ordering for a business.

“There are consumer-friendly solutions that are somewhat easy to use and intuitive, but the moment you want to make it a business order, they want you to go get on the phone with their business team,” Rafi explained. “It’s not the same pricing. It’s not the same website. I’m not going to go get on the phone with someone just to make a t-shirt.”

The friction extended beyond the sales call. Pricing wasn’t always transparent, product details could require back-and-forth emails, and small changes in quantity could require requesting and waiting for another quote.

To Rafi, the process felt out of step with how people buy almost everything else. As consumers, he was used to finding what he needs, seeing what it costs, and directly making the purchase online. Why should buying for a business be so different?

Why Tandem chose Wayo

With Wayo, the information Rafi needed to make a purchase was available directly on the website. Pricing was transparent, and instant quotes updated as Tandem made design or quantity changes, cutting out the need for emails.

Rafi could also get a better sense of what he was ordering before committing. Wayo’s Design Studio offers a realistic mockup of how their design would appear on the product, including details like texture and placement.

And when an order did need extra attention, Wayo stepped in. For one time-sensitive order, the Wayo team proactively reached out about Tandem’s deadline to confirm everything would arrive on time.

For Rafi, that combination stood out: he could handle the straightforward parts himself, but Wayo was there to handle the parts that required human attention and expertise.

The result: Company merch without the usual friction

Tandem has since used Wayo for both team and event merch, including apparel for its 23-person team.

The hoodie was a particular favorite. For one event, Tandem created black notebooks with its logo subtly embossed on the cover — the kind of understated detail Rafi was looking for.

Across those orders, Tandem got the experience Rafi had been looking for: the ease and transparency of buying online, built around the needs of a growing business.

As Rafi put it, Wayo is “a really easy, consumer-friendly solution that’s built for growing businesses.”