Do you participate in a sport or fitness activity regularly? Do you enjoy trying out the latest technology? Can you offer technical praise or criticism of a product? Can you keep a secret? I you answered ‘yes’ to these questions, you might be a perfect candidate to become a ‘wear tester.’
A wear tester is an individual under agreement with a manufacturer to test and evaluate a product before it arrives to market. This is a non-paid position, but can be rewarding if you enjoy testing new products and you can provide written product evaluation in a timely manner. As a bonus, you may even be allowed to keep the product after testing or evaluation by the manufacturer. The downside is you cannot tell anyone that you are participating in the program; you cannot give away, loan or sell the item; you cannot photograph the item; you cannot post pictures on a social networking site… basically the first rule of wear testing is to not talk about wear testing.
When you apply to become a wear tester, you need to provide specific information about your body measurements, age, weight, gender, gait (usually for shoes), sports activity, fitness level, geographic location and more. Your application will be reviewed by the manufacturer to determine if you are a fit for testing their products. If you are accepted, you will be required to sign a Nondisclosure Agreement before you receive anything to test. You may be accepted or rejected based on numerous factors including that they just have too many testers for a specific sport; your feet or body sizes are too big or small; you are in college and they do not want to violate any NCAA rules; or any other reason they deem fit.
Most of the tests last from a few days or weeks, but can sometimes last a few months. During and after your test period, you will be required to offer good and bad feedback to the manufacturer for that particular product. Not only will you be evaluating the product, but you to will be evaluated. Your performance regarding valuable and timely feedback will be rated by the manufacturer to judge if you will be chosen for future product testing. At the end of the test period you will probably be required to send the item back to the manufacturer for their evaluation. Some manufacturers will keep the item indefinitely, but others will send it back to you to keep. There should be no cost to you as most of the companies will send you pre-paid shipping labels along with the item.
If these programs interest you, the best way to find the companies who conduct these programs is to do an Internet search. Many companies, including Nike, Brooks, New Balance and Pearl Izumi have wear testing programs.
Just don’t wear out your welcome while trying to reach them.