5 Companies Making Real Products with 3D Printing

85% of shoes are currently produced in Asia and are multimaterial constructs (fabric, rubber, glue) that create manufacturing complexity; 3D printed footwear can potentially solve many issues with traditional shoe manufacturing.

“today 85% of shoes are produced in Asia they're also generally multimaterial constructs that have fabric on the top rubber on the bottom and a bunch of glue and gunk in between holding it together and 3D printed Footwear has the capability to potentially solve many of the issues with traditional Footwear manufacturing”

Traditional bristle worm traps in aquariums are orange boxes that sit visibly at the bottom, but 3D printing enables designing traps to look like rocks or organic scenery while retaining functional holes, creating invisible or hidden traps.

“instead of having a bristle worm trap that just looks like an orange box sitting at the bottom of the aquarium which is fine and people are probably used to that because everything else was molded for forever they could instead make a trap that looks like a rock they could take a rock subtract their existing geometry from it and then print that and now you have something that not only has a functional use inside of the aquarium but also looks invisible or can be hidden”

Tons can implement customer feedback and design modifications immediately on all products going forward, which is exceptionally difficult to do with traditional manufacturing due to tooling constraints.

“one of the most special things about using 3D printing in this application is the fact that they're able to modify the design when they get a piece of customer feedback they're able to implement it on all products going forward and if they have a new idea for their own modification they can do it immediately”

Niche accessory markets are valuable 3D printing opportunities because customers have specific, well-understood needs that can be solved in ways traditional manufacturing couldn't support.

“Niche accessories are a great 3D printing Market if you're looking to create a product because there's something that people really need really want and really understand and that you can understand really well too so that you can solve a problem for them that wasn't able to be solved before”

Lighters vary in size based on the manufacturer's molding process and whether they are full or empty, creating tolerance problems that required a solid hole approach to be abandoned in favor of grip fins that provide flexible compliance.

“not every big lighter is actually the same size they will vary based on the company molding them and it will also vary based on whether this lighter is full or empty those will both change how tightly it fits into a standard hole that was untenable because we ended up producing actually a batch of the parts and realizing that lighters on one end of delivery would not fit into them even though they were verified on our end”

Printed Reef currently designs products that look like traditional injection-molded products (thin-walled, square, blocky), missing the opportunity to use 3D printing's geometry freedom for aesthetic differentiation.

“but now how could printed reath improve their products even more by using 3D printing as I look at their website and look at the products that they have many of them look like traditional injection molded type of products they're thin walled they're Square they're blocky kind of traditional sort of design if I was them and I was looking to improve this even more I would lean into the geometry Freedom that 3D printing gives to you”

If you're able to 3D print an entire shoe using a material like TPU, every part can be ground up and run back through a 3D printer at some point, making TPU shoes very easy to recycle.

“if you're able to 3D print an entire shoe using a material like TPU every part of the shoe can just be ground up and then run back through a 3D printer at some point it's very easy to recycle”

The aquarium market is reasonably small, so there's not enough volume to justify the cost of injection molding tooling across a wide product range; companies making 100 different products would face 100,000 to a million dollars in tooling costs without knowing if they'll sell.

“the aquarium world is a reasonably small market so there's not a way for companies to advertise the cost of molds over all kinds of different products if they make a 100 different products they're going to have 100 100,000 to a million dollars of molding cost across all of those products and they don't know how they're going to sell”

When creating a product for a particular category, make sure you understand it well enough to make subtle decisions really well, such as material selection.

“that's something to be aware of when creating a product for a particular category make sure that you understand it well enough that you can actually make the subtle decisions really well”

Tons uses 3D printing for bicycle accessory stands because the grid pattern design cannot be economically manufactured via traditional processes—injection molding would require tooling costs that make a flat plastic slab the only viable alternative.

“if you look really close at the stands themselves you can see that grid pattern that grid pattern is actually quite expensive to create with traditional manufacturing which is why when you go to like a cafeteria you see just a flat plastic slab”

When using 3D printing, always recognize the process that you have and don't try to design the same way everybody else designs for molding or machining, but instead design specifically for 3D printing to create entirely new things.

“when using 3D printing you always want to recognize the process that you have and don't try to design the same way everybody else is designed for like molding or Machining but instead designed for 3D printing and then you can create all types of applications that were never possible before”

When Slant 3D received the Joint Locker baseline design from Another Room, it established quality control standards requiring the product to be perfect every time with no misplaced features, skewed layers, or protruding layer lines—creating an extremely challenging and unforgiving mass-production requirement.

“when we first got the joint Locker the very first things we started doing was kind of establishing a set of Standards with another room what was this allowed to be and we ended up creating a QC document and an overall set of Standards which was basically this had to be perfect every single time there could not be any feature that was misplaced no hair a skew no layer line protruding further than any other this makes it very difficult to mass-produce because it's very unforgiving in that regard”

BeFrend office organizers use extra-large nozzles and lean into layer lines as a visual and tactile feature, creating a pottery-like texture that cannot be achieved through traditional manufacturing and positions the products as premium.

“they use extra-large nozzles to produce these parts and leave really distinct layers so they almost look like Pottery coil pots which are just beautiful”

Tons uses standardized third-party wooden stakes of varying lengths as components across all their products, simplifying manufacturing while maintaining premium appearance and function.

“they use basically the same part throughout all of their parts the wooden Stakes that they use in all of their pieces are just variations of length which makes them very easy to manufacture while still maintaining a premium appearance and exceptionally High function”

Zellerfeld was launched in 2016 by Cornelius Schmidt from a dorm room, initially focused on creating 3D printed shoes to enable customization and reduce upfront manufacturing costs.

“zeld was officially launched back in 2016 by Cornelius Schmidt at the time he was working out of his dorm room trying to create 3D printed shoes and he saw how 3D printing could allow for customization of shoes”

Zellerfeld uses standard FDM 3D printing to produce fully TPU shoes, partnering with independent designers and well-known designers like Yeezy to create custom, exclusive shoes that limit supply and differentiate the brand.

“they use standard fdm 3D printing in order to produce a fully TPU shoe they work with independent designers as well as very well-known designers such as easy to create custom shoes that you can't really find anywhere else they're able to create a model of something very unique and then kind of limit the supply”

This business model allows Zelf's technology to catch up while still building the brand and building the business, because the exclusivity and premium positioning make customers willing to wait for products.

“it's actually a really good business model that allows your technology to catch up while still building the brand and building the business as of today”

The original Joint Locker was designed by Cash to store lighters and joints; Another Room acquired the design and partnered with Slant 3D to mass-produce it, choosing 3D printing for flexibility in colors, design, and long-term design evolution.

“the original joint Locker was made by a designer named Cash who designed it to be an easy way to store both a lighter and a joint in an easy to carry package that can be put in a pocket or a purse the design was eventually purchased by another room who reached out to slant 3D to mass-produce these because 3D printing gave them the flexibility that they needed both in colors design functionality longterm and then overall design control”

The Joint Locker was able to transition from prototype to professional mass production in less than one year, enabling Another Room to sell to retailers like Urban Outfitters at wholesale cost profitably.

“this 3D printed product was able to go from a prototype with a couple of 3D printers into professional production in less than a year and now this version of The Joint Locker is able to be mass-produced reliably enough to where an organization like Urban Outfitters is able to purchase these from another room at a wholesale cost and resell them profitably”

Tons manufactures cycling accessories such as hangers, organizers, and stands for home cyclists, using minimal inventory because they limit third-party components to about two separate items.

“they use basically the same part throughout all of their parts the wooden Stakes that they use in all of their pieces are just variations of length which makes them very easy to manufacture while still maintaining a premium appearance and exceptionally High function and this is really easy to do whether you're making it s or hiring a service like slant 3D to manufacture your products simple thirdparty components that insert and have basic assembly steps to put together either when the customer gets it or within a factory setting when the 3D printed parts are completed is a really good way to design a product because there's not a high manufacturing requirement around tolerances or assembly or processes they're very obvious and very clear how they go together and they create a very nice looking product when they're done because everything is so intentional but they still have limited inventory because there aren't 5050 different screws to pull from there's about two separate items”

Most traditional manufacturers make one single product and iterate on it for 5-10 years to pay for the upfront tooling costs and expenses, rather than diversifying their product line.

“most companies make one single product and then make it for 5 or 10 years until they do an upgrade in order to pay for all the upfront cost and expenses that”

The grip fins in the Joint Locker's lighter socket are one of the primary innovations that allow it to be 3D printed and have a capability that would have never been possible before with traditional manufacturing.

“this is actually one of the primary Innovations within the joint Locker which allows it to be 3D printed and have a capability that would have never been possible before”

3D printed on-demand manufacturing eliminates excess inventory burden while enabling scaling for demand surges, with less waste than traditional manufacturing.

“since they're 3D printed on demand when orders come through which is the best way to do it there's no excess inventory that tons has to maintain but they're still able to scale up if they ever have surges in demand and there is just less waste than traditional manufacturing”

Slant 3D eliminated bottom-layer staining issues in the Joint Locker by creating an internal cavity that minimizes contact with the print bed, solving an early batch problem.

“we ended up creating a cavity inside of so that it has minimal contact with the bed which eliminates the chances of staining or anything along those lines that can cause the bottom to go wrong which was actually an issue in early batches”