Real women may have curves, but apparently clothing retailers prefer to display clothing only on skinny mannequins. Most retailers think if they have a mannequin in the window that is larger than a size 8 potential customers will assume they are a plus size store.
Why retailers don’t put small, medium and large size mannequins in their window to appeal to a wide range of customer body sizes is mystery to me. I’ve been told by friends in the retail industry that the plus size department does more volume than any other fashion department in the store. And that chains catering to plus size women exclusively do more volume in sales than their Jr or Miss sized counterparts.
Recently we were contacted by a retailer who wanted to recycle all their plus size mannequins. Mind you, the retailer still sells plus size clothing, but they no longer want to showcase that size clothing on mannequins.
While some of their “plus size” mannequins were a size 16 -24, quite a few of them were a size 12! These size 12 mannequins were curvy and voluptuous (see photos above) not boxy and matronly as many size 12 mannequins look. Wow so I guess if age 40 is the new 30, then a size 12 is really a size 16.
Here are some ideas that people have given on what to do with these plus size mannequins: (give us yours)
1 Put a mask on them and dress them up as Santa Claus
2 Sell them to stores that cater to transvestites
3 Turn them into security guards when you are away from home by stragetically placing them in the house in combination with timed lighting to give the illusion that someone is home.
4 Have a buy one, get one free promotion
