How Case-Mate Finally Found a Long-Term Accessibility Partner with TestParty
Ended the every-few-months vendor cycle:After years of onboarding new agencies — remediating, and then hitting fresh issues, Case-Mate found a partner that finally feels long-term.
Improved accessibilty in roughly 12 weeks:By the team’s own account, Case-Mate moved from problem-ridden to remediation of identified issues within about three months of starting with TestParty.
Replaced costly manual audits:Previous third-party agencies charged premium rates and billed extra, often around $200/hour, just to touch the code. TestParty builds that work in.
No site sacrifices:Where older solutions told Case-Mate what it couldn’t do, TestParty worked directly in the code base and fixed issues without forcing the team to change how the site looks or functions.
Freed the team to ship:With accessibility handled continuously, Case-Mate’s team kept launching products, almost daily, without stopping to manage thousands of labeling issues.
THE SCENARIO: A Fast-Moving Accessories Brand
Case-Mate is a well-known phone-case and accessories brand with a fast-moving, design-heavy e-commerce operation. The team launches products almost daily and leans on rich lifestyle and product imagery, exactly the kind of constantly-evolving site where accessibility is hardest to maintain.
THE CHALLENGE: A New Partner Every Few Months
Case-Mate did not lack effort. The team was, if anything, more involved in accessibility than most, running manual checks, maintaining spreadsheets handed off by third-party auditors, and manually adjusting ARIA labels across the site. But the model kept breaking down.
“Everything was very manual. All the checks were very manual. We had to work with third-party agencies that focus on accessibility, but it was very costly to onboard new vendors and remediate things, only to then run into future issues because sites are always evolving.”
- T.R. Wilhoit, VP of E-Commerce at Case-Mate
Over the years that meant cycling through specialist agencies — each engagement remediating the site only for new issues to surface as it kept evolving.
The manual approach also hit its limits on the visual side. “We’re heavy on lifestyle imagery and product imagery, so you get into contrast issues and all these things that are just really hard to understand how it works,” T.R. said. “Without the right process built in, it’s a challenge.”
As Michael Bervell of TestParty reflected back to the team on the call, the real story was a cycle:
“It felt like every six months, every year you have to find a new partner because it seems just to be getting harder and harder. And with TestParty, for the first time, you’ve found a partner where it feels easy and like a long-term solution.”
- T.R. Wilhoit, VP of E-Commerce at Case-Mate
THE SOLUTION: Code-Level Work, Built In
What set TestParty apart for Case-Mate was the combination of continuous, automated checking and hands-on involvement in the actual code, without the surprise hourly bills.
“The ongoing portion, the fact that we have something regularly checking, because we didn’t have that before,” T.R. said, when asked what differentiated TestParty.
“We’re very AI-forward as a company. And you were heavily involved in the actual code base with us, making sure things were going smoothly. A lot of third-party vendors won’t get involved in the site unless they charge you $200 an hour for a developer to jump in.”
- T.R. Wilhoit, VP of E-Commerce at Case-Mate
The experience itself was, in the team’s repeated words, easy.
“Things were very seamless. We didn’t really have to change much on our end or sacrifice anything. A lot of the other solutions are dated and they’ll just tell you, oh, you can’t do this. You guys just saw what we were doing and fixed it all for us.”
- Mary Kathryn Kitchin, Ecom Marketing Specialist
THE RESULTS: Improved Accessibility, and Free to Build
By the team’s own framing, Case-Mate went from facing recurring accessibility problems to substantially improved accessibility within about twelve weeks, and stayed there. The deeper win is what the team got back: the ability to keep shipping.
“We’re launching products almost every day,” T.R. said. “We were able to focus on the site experience, the customer experience, design, order processing, normal e-commerce things, and not have to think about a large backlog of manual accessibility work we don’t have the resources to handle.”
For Case-Mate, that peace of mind, knowing new work will be accessible once it goes live, is the difference between accessibility as a recurring fire drill and accessibility as a solved, maintained part of the operation.
THE ROAD AHEAD: A Standard They Can Prove
Case-Mate continues with weekly automated scans, monthly manual testing, and monthly reporting, building the consistent, documented standard that its legal team can rely on if questions ever arise. The brand’s advice to peers reflects what it learned: rather than negotiating a new agency contract every time something breaks, invest in an ongoing solution that keeps you compliant as the site grows.
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