It is true that almost every blog to do with fashion, weight loss and eating disorders is having a dig at Rootstein for creating a new design of male mannequin.

I thought it best to put our hat in the ring, being an upcoming designer and producer of mannequins.

Rootstein is known as the pioneer in the mannequin world. They produce fantastic mannequins that hold their value and almost everyone knows about them. They didn’t achieve this status by not producing different kinds and styles of mannequins.

The latest release is Homme Nouveau – a tall, 37 inch (waist) male mannequin with what I would call a ’slight’ build. This can only fill a gap in the market and would not have been created if the demand was not there.

A lot of bloggers have said that this encourages eating disorders in men. But what these reporters fail to realise is that there are men out there with builds like this and they are not malnourished or ‘manorexic’.

We say well done Rootstein for enabling us to gain yet another category in our mannequin world.

(Picture found on web)

1. Always unpack your new mannequin with care and consideration. Ideally, wear gloves when handling the body parts. If you do not have gloves to hand then at least ensure your hands are clean and rings are removed. Rings scratching against the surface of a mannequin will cause what looks like light pencil marks. They can be removed but in any case, avoid yourself the extra job of cleaning by removing your rings.
2. Clean hands are essential when unpacking, assembling and dressing a mannequin. We see the most common of marks caused by hands on key areas, such as around the neck, bottom of torso, thighs and arms. All of this can be avoided.
3. Join the mannequin together with care. Forcing a limb in place with undue care and attention can break the fittings. These can be fixed but again, safe yourself the hassle and expense.
4. Do not stick cellotape or double sided velcro to the mannequin. It will either remove the paint or leave a sticky residue which is time consuming to remove. It can of course be removed in about a half hour with white spirit, but it is an unnecessary task. If clothes do not fit the mannequin as you desire, use pins on the fabric, not tape on the mannequin.
5. Do not, if you can help it, drop the limbs. Whilst many old fashioned or expensive mannequins may survive, most modern, lightweight mannequins will not. If you think your mannequin needs to survive the hands of novice merchandisers, then please ensure they are adequately informed before they are let loose on your investment.

We once liased with a leading department store on the care of their mannequins. Their policy in fact was very bright. We were talking about damaged mannequins and how they recycled them. Simply put, they told us that there objectives were to always care for the mannequins and handle them in the correct way. As such, this attention to detail ensured that their investment lasted well into the future. With stores throughout the United Kingdom, this was obviously a good policy to have and saved a lot of time and money.

I started Mannakin from the lounge of our 3 bed terraced council house and it was a tiny idea that I had last July. Having set myself up last year as a retail consultant, I wanted to get more involved in visual merchandising and in particular window displays. Working with my client Honeytrap Lingerie, I bought just one mannequin that went into her shop window as part of a competition. The effect was instant as this eternally young beauty, dressed in gorgeous, sexy lingerie, grabbed the attention of passers by. The postman would give a smile and men and women turned their heads. Great stuff, this is what in your face promotion is all about!

The power of the mannequins had definitely been identified and I then started to collect more and specialise in mannequin hire and repair. The collection grew and grew along with interested clients and by Christmas 2007 there were around 40 in the house.

The dining table is supposed to be here!

It was becoming difficult to find space to sit and watch TV, so by the new year I rented a shipping container from the Newark Storage Company. That little move made us as a family quite anxious as we now had an extra bit of expense. Fortunately though enough orders for hire came through, enabling us to cover the cost.

Before it got really crowded! At least then we were able to see the TV.

Whilst collecting many mannequins, I was also building up a pile of wigs. Some of these are unbelievably 70’s and so the craze in the house became putting the wigs on ourselves and daring eachother to go out in them. My husband Jona, a natural entertainer was more than happy to do the dare and went to the local Chinese take away wearing one! But by far the cutest member of the family, our little girl Summer has taken a real fancy to the wigs and actually cries to have one on. Once the wig is in place she likes to admire herself in the mirror! A proper little girl indeed.

The whole point of working from home was to spend more time with the family and be on call if anyone needed Mum. However, this started becoming more and more frustrating as time went on. Yes, home is a good place to start a venture and I like to think that all the best businesses are started from home, but it soon became apparant that I needed to increase the amount of mannequins that I had due to demand. Not only the number of but the selection of. In March 2008 my quest began for more storage combined with workspace so that I could actually ‘go to work.’ As you can imagine the business really was piling up ontop of us all, including the dog!

Photo by Liz Savage

However last week it all got a bit too much and so I went out and bought a party sized gazebo for the garden. I then managed to move quite a few out of the house and as you can see, they are still sat there waiting for their warehouse bus to arrive!

This extra work space has now been found. Nearly 2000 sq ft of it and we are evicting all the 120 plus dummies and everything related to Mannakin into the new warehouse. It will be the first time that we can actually have all the mannequins out to look at at once and so we invite you to our launch on 1 July. To get your invite make sure you subscribe to our newsletter via our home page.

I am of course, really excited now about the next stage of growth and look forward to it very much! There is a lot planned, so keep in touch! Roz x

For any press enquiries, please feel free to contact me direct, Roz Mita 07757513584.

Photographs may not be used without permission please.

Hellen was unable to comment, but a bystander reported, ‘She actually enjoys the fame and gets to meet a lot of people. She doesn’t seem bothered about the photo’s, even if she did end up drunk in the bath before the party had even started!’

Hire This Mannequin For Your Party!

We can all stop guessing now as to who it is behind the crash helmet. The Stig, who appeared at a recent conference with Integra Office Solutions, pictured here with Meryl James is none other than our Harvey!

Resident Aristocrat, Lady Silver was admitted earlier today to the Patchup Ward at Dollby City Hospital.

Chief surgeon at the hospital said, ‘ We were shocked to find her suffering with a damaged arm. We quickly helped to resolve the problem which had extended into her wrist and shoulder with a unique kind of glue gun and special filler injection. She was then sent for sanding – a revolutionary new kind of treatment that helps the Dollywood residents look and feel their best. All the celebrity dollies want it done and the treatment is in high demand!’

Lady Silver was unable to comment on the treatment, but visitors to the hospital commented on how good she now looks!