Tips For Dressing a Mannequin

Do you own or manage a retail apparel store? Retail apparel is a highly competitive industry with hundreds of brands vying to capture the hearts of their target demographic. While nothing trumps quality merchandise, you can boost your sales by displaying garments on mannequins. The right mannequin display will enhance your store's products, enticing shoppers to buy them. On the other hand, however, the wrong mannequin display will have the opposite effect by sending shoppers headed in the other direction.

Choose Your Garments

The first step in dressing a mannequin for a retail store display is to choose your garments. Ask yourself, which garments will have the greatest effect when displayed on the mannequin? If your store recently added a new dress or suit that's particularly popular at the moment, it's probably a good idea to use it. Ideally, you should choose garments that are 'hot' and in demand by your customers.

But sales isn't necessarily a fool-proof factor of success with a mannequin display. Don't be afraid to choose garments with minimal sales, as showing them on a mannequin may trigger floods of purchases.

Dismantle The Mannequin

It's recommended that you dismantle the mannequin before dressing it with clothes and accessories. Mannequins aren't exactly as flexible as us humans, and trying to squeeze a shirt or dress onto one can prove to be a challenge (to say the least). However, you can make the process easier by removing the heads, arms, and any other detachable appendages beforehand.

Fitting Your Garments To The Mannequin

When dressing your store's mannequins, pay close attention to the size of the clothes and whether or not they fit. Again, mannequins aren't built in the same shape and size as us humans. Therefore, clothes may not fit them the same. A pair of pants, for instance, may fail to stay around the mannequin's waist, creating a problematic scenario for store owners and visual merchandisers. 

So, how do you ensure the garments fit your mannequin? The easiest solution is to pin your garments when needed. If a pair of pants are falling off, try pinning the waist to make them smaller. As long as the pins remain hidden, it shouldn't have a negative impact on the aesthetics of your display.