Hidden Treasure

BY ROBERT C. RAGER

>>> Fusion Specialties, Broomfield, Colorado

A group of youthful mannequins made for Guess?, Inc.

Design energy is often focused entirely on a product itself, and how that product is displayed becomes an afterthought, rather than an opportunity to express a company's identity. Fusion Specialties of Broomfield, Colorado thinks differently about what display should be, and has retooled what used to be a mundane object: the mannequin.

Fusion's business requires neither showroom nor sales force, and it can be summed up as "finding and approaching companies who are brands in themselves," according to vice president Peter Houston. Fusion creates display options that strive to personify the brand itself. Houston says, "We ask them, 'If your company was a mannequin, what would it be, and what would it look like?'" With its clients as design partners, Fusion tries to get to the essence of what a client's identity might be and devise a unique mannequin to represent that client's products. "One of our core competencies is understanding the uniqueness of our clients, rather than just understanding mannequins," says Houston.

That drive to be unique led Fusion to practically reinvent its product almost from the beginning. The firm began in Huntington Beach, California as a partnership between two friends, one with a sales background and one with design training and a focus on mannequins and fixtures. They believed they could create a better product than what the market offered, and 23 years later, the company has proven it.

Fusion Specialties sculptors create original mannequins using live models, photography and clay.

Fusion, which relocated to Colorado in 1991, creates mannequins that are virtually unbreakable and have limbs that attach with a patented magnetic system, making the mannequin easy to dress. They are made of a proprietary material that allows tremendous savings in both production time (18 minutes to mold, vs. four hours for a traditional mannequin) and money, as well as being vastly superior in terms of environmental issues.

"Mannequins are not usually an environmentally friendly business," says Houston, "but we've been 'green' all along." Unlike the traditional mannequin-making process, Fusion's production produces no airborne toxins during the molding stage. Its materials are completely recyclable and reusable, and its green practices recently won a Colorado Clean Air Award.

Fusion's design process is extremely client-focused. Customers select live models from various ages or body types, models that represent the customer's ideal for its products. Then, in-house 3D photography allows the customer to choose from an infinite variety of poses. Three full-time in-house sculptors create each mannequin from computer-generated model dimensions. Green practices even extend to this part of the process, with reusable oil-based clay and reusable armatures to sculpt the figure. The clay figure is used to create a single, unique fiberglass mannequin form, from which all subsequent mannequins for that customer are produced.

Fusion Specialties mannequins capture specific looks for clients.

Fusion's patented E-FLEX mannequin material allows molding to be done at room temperature, so no ovens or costly metal molds are needed. That can save more than $100,000 per mannequin design. More than 3,500 mannequins can be made from that one fiberglass original before it needs repair.

Fusion's out-of-the-box approach has led to its mannequins populating such large-scale national retailers as Macy's, Dillard's and Nike, as well as gracing the stores of such specialty retailers as Bebe, Banana Republic and Guess?, Inc.

"Our starting point," says Houston, "is where most other manufacturers finish."

Fusion Specialties, Inc., 2400 Industrial Lane, Broomfield, CO 80020; (303) 460-7700 or www.fusionspecialties.com.