Custom product development

Custom CPAP skins. A small product with a long-term commitment.

Helping a brand customer develop custom CPAP skins became our most demanding sourcing project—and a product we continue to supply.

September 14, 2026

Several years ago, a brand customer sent us an image showing decorative CPAP skins for different machine models. The products came from an Australian brand. Our customer wanted us to develop a similar range under their own label.

Customer reference showing decorative skins on nine CPAP machines, with identifying marks blurred. — 01The reference image our customer shared at the start of the project.

Our first step was to get the actual products in our hands. We ordered almost every skin in the Australian brand’s range, spending a considerable amount to have these lightweight stickers shipped thousands of kilometres to us.

That investment helped us understand what we needed to source. We examined the samples closely, studying their materials and how they were made.

02Samples we purchased from Australia to study the materials and production process.

Finding a suitable material proved difficult. After a detailed search, we found an option close to the Australian samples. Our designers then created original patterns, and we tailored the cuts to fit each of the customer’s CPAP models.

What goes into a CPAP skin?

The material we eventually selected was an indoor advertising material with two main layers: a base material and a laminate film. Finding the material was only part of the work. We also had to get three production stages right, in order: printing, laminating and cutting.

Print with a suitable ink
The artwork is printed onto the base material first. Choosing an ink suited to the material is an important part of this step.
Apply the laminate
After printing, a laminate film is applied. The options we considered included a horizontal-grain texture, a matte finish and a gloss finish.
Cut to fit each machine
The laminated material is then cut to the shape required for each CPAP model. There are several cutting methods, and larger quantities can generally make cutting more efficient. For this project, we ultimately used a flatbed laser cutting machine.

The result was a new series of custom skins for the customer’s brand. The photograph below was taken by our team and shows the finished products we developed.

03Our finished CPAP skins, fitted to different machine models and photographed by our team.

From the first day, we knew this would be a small-volume product. Decorative skins serve a niche within the CPAP market, so we did not expect large sales.

As development progressed, the commercial challenge became clearer. The customer’s target price left us with a narrow margin. At the same time, each skin required individual cutting to fit its intended machine. This limited production efficiency and kept the cost of producing each additional piece high.

Together, the material search, model-specific cutting and tight pricing made this the most difficult sourcing project we had taken on.

We completed the development, and we have continued supplying these skins over the long term.

For our customer, this meant having a custom product range and a supplier willing to support it. For us, it was part of providing a complete solution—including smaller products that take considerable work to bring to market.

Sales volume and margin were limited. The customer’s need was clear, and meeting that need remained our priority.

Do you have a product problem?

Send us a sample, drawing, photo or video. We will check what we can do.