Our Story: From Frustration to a Better Formulation
Our journey with Smartilage didn’t start in a boardroom or a lab; it began out of pure frustration, just like so many of life’s best ideas. For years, I was dedicated to my daily supplement routine, meticulously curating a blend of essential nutrients, with a focus on sourcing the best collagen for my joints.
But, it was never a cakewalk.
Easy There, Junior—Health Store Customer Service Issues
My personal frustration peaked on one particular trip to a major retail health store.
I just wanted to browse the aisles at my own pace, but instead, I had to deal with an overly eager clerk who was more interested in getting my attention and pushing a brand than helping me find what I was looking for.
I tried a different health store location in town around 5:30 p.m. on a weekday, and there was someone commercially washing their windows and blocking the entryway.
Supply Chain Struggles: Acquiring the Best Collagen Products
I remember the countless times I’d go to reorder my favorite brands, only to find them out of stock due to constant supply shortages. Then came the endless scrolling on Amazon or Walmart, trying to find a reliable alternative, often wasting weeks only to have the wrong product show up on my doorstep. It was frustrating, time-consuming, and felt completely unnecessary.
I later discovered the manufacturer/seller on their site was purposefully switching the product with available inventory to avoid having to take down their product listing and lose prominence and position in the search results.
So, they were willing to send out the wrong product every time, every time I would contact customer support, and every time, they’d refund the money and let me keep the product.
Why would they do this?
They know it’s just a numbers game, and an established brand can get away with upsetting a few loyal customers and suffer a loss in the short term to avoid totally falling off a cliff with one of their product lines in the long run.
And while the prospect of getting a lot of free bottles of type I & III collagen may sound great to some, it was still the wrong type of collagen (bovine, type I) for mobility and joints (chicken, type II).
The whole modern supplement-buying experience was frustrating and left me feeling like these companies couldn’t care less about actual customers, whom they clearly took for granted every step of the way. I realized that a huge part of the problem wasn’t just the products—it was the entire supplement industry’s approach.
Recalibrating Our Natural Vision
That’s when it hit me: why should maintaining my health be so complicated? Why couldn’t I find a single, comprehensive formula that combined all the useful and even somewhat exotic ingredients I was trying to purchase from a dozen different bottles?
I envisioned a solution that could not only complement a daily multivitamin but also fill in common nutritional gaps and streamline a person’s entire routine.
This led me to develop a single, powerful product that could consolidate an individual’s daily benefits while significantly reducing the number of different pills and powders they have to buy.
But, it doesn’t stop there. Smartilage was designed to go above and beyond since, clearly, just doing the bare minimum has been the standard in some corners of the supplement industry, and it’s not only failing to get the job done—it’s driving once-loyal nutrition hobbyists, fitness enthusiasts, and average consumers away.
It’s not your run-of-the-mill collagen supplement, or turmeric supplement, or Chaga mushroom supplement. It’s a formula that was made with a purpose, from the smallest component to the largest ingredient, from idea to actual human.
Formulating Our Core Mission
And that’s the core of Smartilage.
Our mission is to take the pain and confusion out of your health routine. We’re not a company born from a marketing trend; we’re built from a genuine need for a better, more honest, and more effective way.
We believe in providing you with a single, high-quality solution that works, so you can stop worrying about your supplement routine and start focusing on living a more vibrant, active life. It didn’t happen overnight.
After many formulations and modifications, we kept at it until we created something we were truly excited to use ourselves in our own daily lives.
And now, we’re proud to finally share it with you.