Mannequin recycling and repurposing is no longer just a “nice thing to do for the environment” but is a financially savvy thing to do. Just ask The Gap.
We received this email from a honcho in Visual Operations at The Gap headquarters in San Francisco.
Below is a recap of the results/estimated savings from coordinating mannequin removal with Mannequin Madness in conjunction with our last rollout:
- Removals occurred from approximately 50 stores
- Approximately 2,205 mannequins removed free of charge
- Fixtures/Christmas trees were removed in some stores
- Estimated transfer/disposal savings: $17,500
This $17,500 savings was just from the 50 stores we worked with from Feb 2011-May 2011. And I can tell you that this is a conservative estimate because we were not always able to get an accurate account from the exact number of mannequins we removed from each store. We work with a lot of used mannequins vendors across the country who assist us with the mannequin removal and they don’t always tell us what they received. They tell us if they got fewer mannequins than expected, but rarely tell us if they received more.
But the savings are not just with The Gap. The mannequins that we receive from them we then resell to other businesses and individuals – at a big discount over what these exact mannequins would cost brand new. So it is a win/win for everyone! The Gap saves, our customers save and we ALL save because these mannequins are not in the landfill, but being reused.
The mannequins that we acquire from The Gap and other retail chains are “commerical” type. This means they are made to be much more durable than some of the cheap imports on the market. They were made to be a used in a heavy retail environment where they will be manhandled (and mishandled). Sure all mannequins will break down eventually, but you will get a lot more mileage buying a “gently used” mannequin of this caliber than a brand new mannequin of a lesser caliber.
So once again we want to encourage more retail chains to recycle their mannequins when they remodel or close stores and by calling Mannequin Madness.
