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THE SPORT LINE
"Carol Barnhart has been in the Mannequin production
business for almost twenty years” says Board Director Jerry Cassese who has been a part of
the company for thirteen. “We’ve made our name in the market by producing ‘active’ and ‘sporting’
mannequins and a full line of sports figures ranging from golf, basketball, running, jogging,
swimming and cycling. In fact, every sport that has a lifestyle ‘active-wear’ line of clothing
calls for a mannequin in the form of their sport for display.
The newest collection for Barnhart mannequins in the
active sporting category is the male cyclists. “These figures don’t have wigs, instead they have
stylized sculpted heads and hair” says Caseese. “Also new this season is a line of larger women’s
mannequins designed for counter tops and torsos only on the shelf. For the Millennium we produced
a collection last season of purely aluminum mannequins” he adds, a line to mark the theme of the times.
Because Barnhart specializes in the unique market of
athletic and sporting mannequins, it’s not surprising that they are distributed and displayed
as far as England, Germany, Italy, Australia as well as throughout the USA including Hawaii.
"Every Speedo store carries our ‘Swimmer’,” says Caseese,
and we are pretty much represented worldwide from Bloomingdales to Harrods with one part of a
collection or another.” Their other specialty, it seems, is the customized display market.
A client may want to do a specific promotion and so we
come up with the ideas from the starting point of concept to the point-of-purchase display at
the finish”. Liz Claiborne is one such retailer who Caseese has come to work with in this
way.
"They approach us telling us what their needs are and
we come up with ways to solve the problems. For example, we designed and developed a mannequin
with a piece at the back of the form which functioned as a pin cushion to enable the dressers
to pin the merchandise tighter to fit the form better."
"Another time we worked on a color paint finish that is
more scratch resistant so that when mannequins get accidentally scratched being installed or moved
around store, then the undercoat revealed does not look raw.”
Perhaps the most innovative design project they came up
with was a steel-based headless torso for Claiborne with the versatility to change the arms to six
different positions. The key was in the design that enabled the arms to rest in six different
positions with no change in the shoulder and a smooth transition.
Other unique and innovative display items include a full
range of aluminum products including tables and tabletop accessories. A six-foot aluminum tree
designed with truly organic looking finials was spotted by Saks 5th Ave. and
re-commissioned in a black steel finish as a display for shawls.
"Of course the biggest explosion happening right now for
us - as with other companies - is in the plus-sized mannequins. Lane Bryant in particular
had expressed serious interest in our work. The plus-sized customer doesn’t want to see a big
dumpy body, but a voluptuous body can be very appealing.”
So how do they make their plus-sizes appealing?
"You liftup the breasts, tighten the waist and elongate
the whole size for a more attractive look. The way the merchandise fits these forms is an
important feature. We work closely with the merchant to carefully measure their clothes so they
will fit the forms instead of working from a size chart. Plus-sized mannequins have come a
long way, and we expect to see lingerie displayed for the plus-sizes very soon.”
Show Room and Offices
143-149 19th Street
New York, New York 10011
Tel: (212) 645-5130
Fax: (212) 633-6985
Email: cbarnhartinc@earthlink.net
Website: http://www.carolbarnhart.com
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