“GoBolt is more than just a 3PL — they’re a true partner in growth. Their combination of advanced technology, excellent communication, and scalable infrastructure makes them an ideal choice for brands looking to simplify operations and grow across borders.”
Rob Fraser, Founder, Outway
About Outway
Outway is an innovative performance apparel brand known for delivering premium products that combine technical functionality with bold design. As a direct-to-consumer company with growing wholesale partnerships, Outway has built a reputation for quality products and customer experience across North America.
The Challenge
As Outway scaled in Canada and prepared for US expansion, the brand faced critical logistics challenges common to growing DTC companies. With an average order value under $150, shipping costs represented 10-20% of revenue — a substantial expense that directly impacted their ability to grow profitably.
“We sell socks. So thankfully our AOV is not 20 bucks, but it is a low AOV business,” explains Rob Fraser, Founder of Outway. “When you’re looking at the rates of the 3PL plus the shipping costs, you’re looking at 10 to 20% of revenue just in shipping as an expense, which is substantial.”
For Outway, every percentage point mattered. “Little movements in our gross margin are like the name of the game in the direct to consumer brand,” Rob notes. “Every dollar or even cent we can save on gross margin allows us to do so much more, whether it’s acquiring customers or building our team or just being more profitable.”
The brand needed a DTC fulfillment partner that could:
- Handle growing volume while maintaining a premium customer experience
- Support their expansion into the US market
- Provide competitive rates without sacrificing service quality
- Offer technology-driven visibility across operations
- Enable the team to focus on strategic growth, including launching new product lines
The Solution: Partnership with GoBolt
Outway chose GoBolt for their technology-driven approach, sustainability initiatives, and transparent pricing model. The partnership began with Canadian operations and more recently expanded to include a Los Angeles fulfillment facility.
Unified North American Operations
Having one fulfillment partner for both the US and Canada simplified logistics, improved communication, and helped Outway scale faster. GoBolt’s competitive rates, tech integrations, and strong account management team gave Outway confidence they could replicate — and even improve on — their Canadian fulfillment success in the US market.
"Having one fulfillment partner for both Canada and the US simplified logistics, improved communication, and helped us scale our operations faster with minimal internal lift."
Technology That Drives Efficiency
The GoBolt merchant portal gives Outway’s team real-time visibility into their operations and GoBolt’s SLAs. This centralized platform eliminated the guesswork from day-to-day operations and enabled the team to make data-driven decisions quickly.
"The GoBolt portal gives our team real-time visibility into inventory, orders, and performance metrics across both regions."
Carrier Diversification and Reliability
GoBolt streamlined Outway’s shipping strategy by offering faster delivery speeds and lower costs without adding operational complexity. The diversified carrier approach proved invaluable during a critical period when Canada Post went on strike during the 2024 peak season.
"When we were managing our own warehouse, we only really worked with Canada Post, our national carrier. We would've been screwed," Rob recalls. "But it was seamless. We were unaffected because they were also plugged into all the other alternative providers, even their own service. Our rates remained the same, we were getting orders out, and we were unaffected when other brands were just getting slammed."
The brand’s shipping philosophy balanced cost optimization with service quality. “We want the best price, but we want to meet a service minimum to our customers,” Rob explains. “If you’re always going for the cheapest price, sometimes that’s reflected in service as well, and that has second order effects of customer complaints and issues. There’s gonna be a cost on the back end of that too.”
The Results
Financial Impact
Outway’s fulfillment expenses dropped as a percentage of sales, creating operational bandwidth to focus on new product launches, wholesale growth, and US expansion. With shipping costs hovering around $6 per package and average order lifecycle time of roughly 5 days, Outway achieved the balance of cost-efficiency and service quality critical to their business model.
"Our fulfillment expenses have dropped as a percentage of sales, and we've gained the operational bandwidth to focus on new product launches, wholesale growth, and US expansion."
Operational Improvements
Since partnering with GoBolt, Outway has experienced:
- Reduced fulfillment expenses as a percentage of sales
- Improved order accuracy
- Decreased delivery times for both DTC and wholesale orders
- Faster delivery speeds, especially with US expansion
- Reduced workload, enabling their lean team to scale efficiently
"Our fulfillment expenses dropped, order accuracy improved, and delivery times decreased for both DTC and wholesale customers.”
Strategic Growth Enablement
By trusting GoBolt to handle logistics, Outway’s operations team can focus on strategic initiatives. This freed capacity has been crucial as the brand pursues exciting innovation.
Currently, Outway is pioneering new material technologies with a sublimated Merino line that combines the natural performance of Merino wool with bold, high-definition designs. This marks a first for Outway and represents a significant step forward in merging technical performance with creative expression — the kind of innovation that requires focused internal resources.
Looking Forward
“GoBolt is more than just a 3PL — they’re a true partner in growth,” says Rob. “Their combination of advanced technology, excellent communication, and scalable infrastructure makes them an ideal choice for brands looking to simplify operations and grow across borders.”
For Outway, the results speak for themselves: a fulfillment operation that scales with their ambitions, costs that work for their business model, and the operational freedom to focus on what they do best — creating innovative performance apparel that pushes boundaries.
