New York, U.S.A. – Fusion Specialties is pleased to announce the Mannequin Design Competition for students. Design students are invited to participate in a contest exploring the world of mannequin design through the eyes of a singular brand. Winning designs will be showcased at 2013 GlobalShop in Chicago and in DDI magazine among other venues. The grand prizewinner will see his or her designs sculpted and manufactured in full size; the winning collection will be displayed in the Fusion booth at GlobalShop 2013 and also highlighted at a jcpenney store in the New York City area. Cash awards will be provided to the top five designs.

Mannequins present an opportunity to connect with the consumer on a deeply emotional level. Mannequins should be aspirational while at the same time reflecting the brand’s fit and look. In this competition, students will be challenged to explore how to meld these criteria into a mannequin collection that is innovative, exciting and reflects the designated brand appropriately.

Fusion Specialties, one of the world’s largest designer and manufacturer of custom mannequins, has designed multiple collections for jcpenney, Nike, Gap, Guess, Disney, Chico’s, and Armani A/X among others. Their approach is to personify a retailer’s brand identity through the design of custom mannequins and this particular design challenge will ask student participants to do the same. Students will be designing for some of the most popular private label brands sold at jcpenney, and will be required to understand the history, demographic and target customer for that brand. All of this must be reflected in the proposed design for the mannequins.

Prizes:

• $2500 in cash to be awarded to the Grand Prize winner along with publication in DDI magazine, actual development and production by Fusion of the winning mannequin design, showcase at 2013 GlobalShop, feature on the Fusion website, and more.
• $1000 in cash to be awarded to 2nd place winner along with designs showcased in DDI magazine, at 2013 GlobalShop, and on the Fusion website.
• $500 in cash to be awarded to the 3rd, 4th and 5th place entries with designs showcased in DDI magazine, at 2013 GlobalShop, and on the Fusion website.

Judges:

Richard Ledbetter, VP, Visual Merchandising, jcpenney. Richard is responsible for heading the unique execution of the merchandise experience in all jcpenney stores. He has led visual merchandising for many world class retailers including Chico’s, Border’s, Victoria’s Secret, Lane Bryant, and Liz Claiborne.

Tom Stempfley, VP, Visual Display, jcpenney. Tom is responsible for ensuring the flawless execution of the in-store jcpenney experience across the company’s 1,100 stores. He has directed visual presentations for many world-class retailers including Victoria’s Secret, Club Monaco, Abercrombie & Fitch and Soma Intimates.

Stacie White, Creative Director, Fusion Specialties, A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Stacie has been with Fusion for 14 years. She directs the design of all mannequins and forms. She works with a team of fine art sculptors, master artists and tooling specialists to bring a client’s vision to fruition. Clients include Nike, Gap, Chico’s, jcpenney, Ann Taylor, Armani A/X and Guess.

Ellen Johnson, VP, Business Development, Fusion Specialties, Ellen has been with Fusion for 4 years and in the visual merchandising industry for more than 15 years. She is passionate about developing and working with Fusion’s many clients, old and new, to understand their needs and help to realize them.

Alison Embrey Medina, Executive Editor, DDI Magazine. Alison Embrey Medina is the executive editor of DDI magazine, a trade publication serving the retail design industry. Through the pages of DDI, she covers and comments on retail store design, visual merchandising, architecture, marketing and branding, from luxury and specialty to discount and dollar stores.

Image Courtesy :  timoni

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Tyson Chandler, of the Dallas Mavericks, and LeBron James, of the Miami Heat, both of whom are competing against each other in the NBA finals this year, played AAU basketball growing up. As George Dohrmann says in his book, Play Their Hearts Out, “Nearly every great-American-born basketball player of the last ten year—from Kevin Garnett to Kobe Bryant to Tracy McGrady to LeBron James—has been a product of the AAU system, yet it remains a largely unexplored world.” But know, thanks to Dohrmann’s book, many surprising connections between AAU coaches, players and large sneaker companies have been brought to light.

Dohrmann’s book uncovers details about how the AAU basketball system works. For general reference, AAU is a basketball organization for pre-college aged players. Some of the coaches for AAU have been known to have affiliations with large sneaker companies such as Nike and Adidas, who wish to align promising young talent with their products. Therefore, these coaches will be paid significant sums of money by these companies and be given their products. Then, the coaches have been known to extravagantly shower their AAU players with these products, as well as other gifts. Tyson Chandler is one such player. Dohrmann discusses one of Chandlers AAU coaches, stating,”He had allegedly bought Chandler a Cadillac Escalade, moved Chandler’s family from San Bernardino…and taken him on shopping sprees for clothes and shoes that often exceeded $5,000.”Dohrmann also explains, how on one occasion, George Raveling, the head of grassroots basketball for Nike, contacted Chandler’s coach at the time, for both Chandlers “shoe size and his address”. Following the call “approximately 20 pairs of shoes” arrived at Chandlers house.

To understand when and how the recruitment system by sneaker companies dipped into to AAU basketball market, one needs to know the story of Sonny Vaccaro and Nike Founder Phil Knight. Vaccaro approached Phil Knight in 1978 with a business proposition. The proposition was that Vaccaro himself could help Knight and Nike compete with Converse, a sneaker company that had the monopoly on the basketball-shoe market at the time.  Vaccaro’s proposed plan was centered around the fact that he had connections to college coaches and believed that with these connections, he would be able to get the best collegiate players to wear Nike. Vaccaro believed that the best collegiate players wearing Nike shoes would create a domino effect to the fanbase.  Vaccaro believed if the best collegiate players were wearing Nike, fans would be enticed to buy the same sneakers their favorite players were wearing.

Vaccaro cemented his claims in 1984 when he signed Michael Jordan to Nike. Michael was then only a sophomore at North Carolina and had yet to grow into arguably the best basketball player of all time. A year later, in 1985, all four final-four teams would be wearing Nikes, which symbolized their control of the market. In 1992, six years after the 1985 tournament, and after being fired a year earlier by Nike, Vaccaro joined Adidas.  Vaccaro decided to bring Adidas to the AAU level in order to gain control of the youth market because thanks to his earlier work Nike already had the college basketball monopoly. Shortly after, Nike aligned itself with the AAU market as well.

All in all, George Dohrmann’s book Play Their Hearts Out is a fascinating account of the world of grassroots basketball.  For any basketball fan, Play Their Hearts Out is a must read and it will change the way that you look at the game.

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D&G models walked the Fall 2011 Milan Fashion Week runway in sporty sneaker heels, a trend that several designers and companies have attempted to establish in the past.  The D&G sneaker heels matched the brightly colored outfits that the models donned.  The shoes had a similar design to that of Converse’s popular high-top sneakers (plus a 5-inch stiletto heel).  Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana established D&G as an eclectic and contemporary fashion line which aims to set trends instead of following them.  The idea of transforming sneakers into high heels, however, is nothing new.

Several years ago, Nike came out with an Air Force One sneaker heel.  Today, Nike has an entire collection of Nike Jordan high heels.  These heels sport the Nike swoop logo and various bright colors and designs.  Why anyone would ever buy these sneaker heels is beyond me.  These are among the ugliest sneaker heels I have ever laid eyes on.

You know a fashion trend has reached an all time low when Mariah Carey is emulating it.  Mrs. Nick Cannon herself developed a sneaker heel and is selling it on the Home Shopping Network.  She claims her shoe is where athletic wear meets chic and sexy.  Unfortunately, MC’s sneaker heel is known to be very painful to wear (and look at).  What is the point of merging sneakers and heels if you are not going to get the comfort benefit of a sneaker?  It certainly is not for the “unique” style.

In 2009, Italian fashion designer Sergio Rossi teamed up with Puma to create their version of a sneaker heel.  This heel premiered during the Fall/Winter 2009 collection.  The leather shoe sits on a 3.5 inch heel and is called the “High Heel 1st Round Sneaker.”  The shoe originally cost $760 and currently sells on Sergio Rossi’s website for $454.  Rossi, known for his impeccable fashion sense, and Puma, known for its sneaker innovation and style, created the least ugly of the sneaker heel I’ve seen yet.

Christian Louboutin, a French designer of five inch or higher red soled stilettos, and my personal favorite shoe designer (given my 5’2″ frame), created a sneaker heel for his Fall/Winter 2010 collection.  Louboutin classified his design as an ankle boot, with admitted, but obvious, inspiration from the Studio 54 disco era.  The ankle boot is made from python and leopard print with shiny metal.  The 5.5-inches of heel is accompanied by a 1-inch concealed platform.  Louboutin calling his shoe an ankle boot does not make it any less of a sneaker heel, it is still tied up with black sneaker laces.

Now, for the Fall 2011 Milan Fashion Week, D&G donned every model in high heeled sneakers.  D&G usually sets trends, but I am not so sure about this one.  I hope it doesn’t stick.  There is a place on the shoe rack for both sneakers and stilettos, there is no need to compact them into one shoe.  I think this is definitely a trend failure.  It would almost be understandable if the sneaker aspect of the design offered the feet in a sort of comfort-heaven, but this is not the case.  The 4+ inch heels still leaves feet in blistering pain.

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