Tips For Choosing The Right Mannequins For Your Retail Apparel Store

Mannequins are arguably the single most important accessory in a retail apparel store. While store owners can always display their product on traditional shelving units, rolling racks, gridwall and slatwall, nothing compares to mannequins. Their human-like form and shape portrays an accurate representation of what a particular garment looks like when worn, and this translates into more sales from shoppers. With that said, store owners should carefully choose the mannequins that are right for their particular needs. If you're still scratching your head trying to decide which type of mannequin is right for your business, keep reading for some important tips on how to choose the right one.

Male vs Female Mannequins: Which One Should I Choose?

One of the first considerations you should make regarding which type of mannequin is best suited for your store is gender. Does your store focus strictly on female apparel and garments? If so, you'll obviously want to stick with female mannequins. On the other hand, if your store sells both female and male garments, then you'll probably want to choose both types of mannequins. Think about your target demographic and match it with your mannequins.

Remember, the ultimate goal of using mannequins in a retail apparel store is to display how a particular product looks on the human form; therefore, store owners should choose the appropriate gender for their mannequins. Placing a dress on a male-body mannequins isn't going to have the same effect as it would on a female mannequin.

Full-Body, Headless or Torso Mannequins

Of course, you should also decide whether you want to use a full-body, headless or torso-only mannequin in your retail apparel store. While each of these different mannequin types offer an effective way to display garments and accessories, they each have their own pros and cons that owners should be aware of.

Torso mannequins are inexpensive, lightweight, easy to set up, and take up minimal space. The disadvantage to using them, however, is that you won't be able to display full outfits. Headless mannequins are an all-around better choice simply because they have arms and legs attached, but yet they still lack the head. Full-body mannequins are oftentimes preferred by retail apparel store owners; they maximize sales, offer the best visual representation of a garment/outfit, and they are easy to set up. The only real drawback to using full-body mannequins is the space requirements (full-body mannequins take up more space than headless or torso-only models).