diff --git a/examples/format.cc b/examples/format.cc
index cd818a9..da859be 100644
--- a/examples/format.cc
+++ b/examples/format.cc
@@ -12,29 +12,17 @@ using namespace ostd::string_literals;
 struct Foo {
 };
 
-/* implementing formatting for custom objects - external function */
-template<typename R>
-void to_format(Foo const &, R &writer, format_spec const &fs) {
-    switch (fs.spec()) {
-        case 'i':
-            range_put_all(writer, "Foo1"_sr);
-            break;
-        default:
-            range_put_all(writer, "Foo2"_sr);
-            break;
-    }
-}
-
-struct Bar {
-    /* implementing formatting for custom objects - method */
+/* implementing formatting for custom objects */
+template<>
+struct format_traits<Foo> {
     template<typename R>
-    void to_format(R &writer, format_spec const &fs) const {
+    static void to_format(Foo const &, R &writer, format_spec const &fs) {
         switch (fs.spec()) {
             case 'i':
-                range_put_all(writer, "Bar1"_sr);
+                range_put_all(writer, "Foo1"_sr);
                 break;
             default:
-                range_put_all(writer, "Bar2"_sr);
+                range_put_all(writer, "Foo2"_sr);
                 break;
         }
     }
@@ -116,10 +104,6 @@ int main() {
     writefln("%s", Foo{});
     writefln("%i", Foo{});
 
-    /* again, but using a method for formatting */
-    writefln("%s", Bar{});
-    writefln("%i", Bar{});
-
     /* formatting into a string sink (can be any output range, but
      * appender makes sure the capacity is unlimited so it's safe)
      */
diff --git a/ostd/format.hh b/ostd/format.hh
index 0dec6ee..994495d 100644
--- a/ostd/format.hh
+++ b/ostd/format.hh
@@ -36,16 +36,9 @@ struct format_error: std::runtime_error {
 
 struct format_spec;
 
-template<
-    typename T, typename R, typename = std::enable_if_t<std::is_same_v<
-        decltype(std::declval<T const &>().to_format(
-            std::declval<R &>(), std::declval<format_spec const &>()
-        )), void
-    >>
->
-inline void to_format(T const &v, R &writer, format_spec const &fs) {
-    v.to_format(writer, fs);
-}
+/* empty by default, SFINAE friendly */
+template<typename>
+struct format_traits {};
 
 /* implementation helpers */
 namespace detail {
@@ -174,9 +167,9 @@ namespace detail {
     template<typename T>
     constexpr bool is_tuple_like = decltype(tuple_like_test<T>(0))::value;
 
-    /* test whether to_format works */
+    /* test if format traits are available for the type */
     template<typename T, typename R>
-    static std::true_type test_tofmt(decltype(to_format(
+    static std::true_type test_tofmt(decltype(format_traits<T>::to_format(
         std::declval<T const &>(), std::declval<R &>(),
         std::declval<format_spec const &>()
     )) *);
@@ -660,7 +653,7 @@ private:
     void write_val(R &writer, bool escape, T const &val) const {
         /* stuff fhat can be custom-formatted goes first */
         if constexpr(detail::fmt_tofmt_test<T, noop_output_range<char>>) {
-            to_format(val, writer, *this);
+            format_traits<T>::to_format(val, writer, *this);
             return;
         }
         /* second best, we can convert to string slice */