Case Study: Patagonia achieves streamlined field testing and product excellence with Higher Logic Vanilla

Patagonia’s Field Testing Community Empowers The Promise of Product Excellence

Patagonia, the outdoor apparel maker known for rigorous product standards, faced a major logistical challenge running its field testing program via email — copying, archiving and routing tester feedback across dozens of ambassadors and internal teams wasted time and hampered decision‑making. To solve this, Patagonia implemented Higher Logic Vanilla’s Vanilla Forum as a dedicated, private community for employees and brand ambassadors.

Higher Logic Vanilla built a private online community where testers share real‑time results, photos and videos, and teams can quickly review and act on feedback. The Vanilla Forum eliminated the email trail and immediate logistical strain, making the program easier to manage, vastly increasing testing efficiency and freeing field testing lead Walker Ferguson to focus on product work; marketing, product development and sales now all benefit from faster, more actionable insights.

Patagonia

Walker Ferguson

Lead Field Tester