FLATOUTbear is proud to be a women-founded company with an all-women team, from our Sydney HQ to our manufacturing facility.
I (Prue) and Sarah are sisters who founded FLATOUTbear in 2001. Maria, Jo, Anna, Fleur, and Cherryl are part of our Sydney HQ team. For this blog, we’ll be sharing about our team in China, as we visited them last August.
One of the best parts of our factory visit was meeting the amazing women who hand-make our flat bears. Their dedication, skill, and passion were inspiring. We saw the hard work that goes into each FLATOUTbear and FLATOUTbear Rug.
It was incredible to spend over four days with them, getting to know their stories and appreciating all that they do. Although there is a language barrier, we are all mums and women and can somehow convey what we want to say to each other.
Our manufacturing team is small, mainly six women who handle all stages of the manufacturing process. We really felt like it’s such a team effort. They make, we sell. It’s very simple.
These women genuinely love their jobs. Remarkably, they have all been with us for more than a decade.
Li, our jack-of-all-trades, expertly balances her role at the factory with being a loving mother. Liu, a veteran with 15 years in the industry, is already a proud grandmother. Bai, who has been with us for 18 years, stitches our flat bears and often shares stories about her daughter with us.
Shi, with 16 years of experience, and Chen, a professional bear cutter with 20 years of experience, are both incredibly skilled at what they do, despite handling sharp tools. Pam and NaNa supervise the team, ensuring that the factory runs smoothly and that each bear meets our quality standards.
The FLATOUTbear factory is a happy, supportive place — far from the sweatshop stereotype that some might imagine.
Meeting our manufacturing team is an important story that we want to share with everyone. Despite being on opposite sides of the world, we have teamwork and are united by the common goal of spreading FLATOUTbear joy and warmth around the world.
We are fortunate to have such an amazing team, from our Sydney headquarters to our manufacturing team in China.
