The push for environmentally friendly practices in everything from grocery bags to window cleaner has made its way into visual merchandising. Mannequins made from recyclable plastic material instead of fiberglass or urethane are showing up in several manufacturers’ collections, including La Rosa S.p.A., Seven Continents and L’Ideimmagine. Los Angeles-based Greneker Solutions is even using a soy-based material.

Tracey Peters, national visual merchandising manager for Holt Renfrew (Toronto), says the luxury department store currently reuses and recycles visual merchandising props and would consider incorporating recycled mannequins into its presentations. “It will be interesting to see how these mannequins are priced compared to the traditional fiberglass options,” she says.

Another green option for visual merchandisers is mannequin refurbishing. Companies such as Mannequin Madness and Frank Glover Productions will haul away used mannequins, then refurbish and resell them instead of sending them to a landfill.

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