For the month of May – which is Asian American heritage month – I am going to feature my series on the Asian mannequins that Rootstein produced.
As far as I know (correct me if I am wrong ) the only major mannequin companies to produce Asian mannequins was Rootstein and Patina V. And Rootstein was the first.
Daisuke is from the Partners Series, circa 1998. I don’t know anything about the real life Daisuke. Based on his name I am going to guess that he is of Japanese descent. The majority of the Asian models that Rootstein based their mannequins on were Japanese or half Japanese.
The Series featured global young adults, standing poses had the option of clasped hands and if all models side by side forming a semi circular pattern.
Adel Rootstein changed the way mannequins were manufactured so that they were easier for female visual merchandisers to handle. Previously they were bulky figures (weighing over 100 pounds) are many other industry changes she did in the style of mannequins. But what I truly appreciate is the racial/ethnic/size diversity she had with mannequins.
As I mentioned in previous posts Rootstein was one of the first to product plus size mannequins – and made them look hot not matronly. And she was the first to produce African American mannequins.
Adel Rootstein, the company founder, was truly pioneer in the mannequin industry and at the time, one of the few women in the field.
If you want to buy a Rootstein mannequin, we frequently have used ones for sale here. You can also sign up to receive an email the next time we get more used Rootstein mannequins in stock or follow us on Facebook.
