Breaking the mold on mannequins leads to softer side.

When Ram Sareen brought his dress forms to a Sri Lankan garment factory, the modest women laborers covered them up because they looked so lifelike.

"It's almost like the human being is there standing naked," said Sateen, founder of Los Angeles-based Tuka Group, which makes dress forms with malleable coverings to mimic real skin.

That life-like appearance has paid off. While much of the local apparel industry has been decimated by foreign competition, both Tuka Group and Malibu-based dress form maker Shapely Shadow Inc. are thriving as global demand for their products kicks up.

Ironically, these companies have been benefiting from offshore production because as more U.S. apparel makers move their operations to India, China, Vietnam and Guatemala, they leave behind their old dress forms, often made out of papier mache, and purchase the latest versions.

At Shapely Shadow, every component of the dress form is made in Southern California, and 98 percent of the forms are exported. Ilona Foyer, the company's president, expects Shapely Shadow to generate $8 million in revenues this year, about double that of 2004.

"The growth is attributable to the world going global. Now, they source in every country of the world," said Foyer, who estimates that one of its clients, Gap Inc., gets its clothes from 100 factories in several countries, each of which would have at least one form.

Dress savings

Bill Tolcher, chief operating officer of Los Angeles-based Rampage Clothing Co., said the company requires each new factory it signs up to have at least one Tuka form--priced at about $3,000 each (Shapely Shadow forms range from $2,000 to $2,500).

Over the long term, Tolcher said dress forms don't require as many fittings with models who can charge more than $100 an hour. "We are able to get our first samples approved," he said.

The shortened production time also means that Rampage can ship its clothes to stores in eight weeks instead of 12. That's important in an industry where fast fashion is becoming the norm and stores rapidly churn merchandise.

Dress forms made by Shapely Shadow and Tuka are based on an electronically scanned image of a model with the same technology that video game developers use to create lifelike characters. The model's form can be duplicated over and over.

"Consistency is a key in fashion," said Juergen Schuette, vice president of technical design and development for New York-based Donna Karan International Inc., a subsidiary of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA that uses Shapely Shadow products. "If you don't have the consistency, you get disappointed customers, and you don't get the repeat customers you need."

The companies electronically scan models with the body characteristics of typical customers. That way they can determine just where their customers' shoulders usually slope or their hips settle.

For Rampage, the dress forms are based on a model with a body typical of girls in their teen and young-adult years. For Donna Karan, Schuette said that the model has a fit body type because its customers tend to work out. That's different from the typical customer of Fort Myers, Fla.-based retailer Chieo's FAS Inc., who is in the 40-65 age range and doesn't have the tone of a gym rat.

To make the forms more lifelike, Tuka and Shapely Shadow have developed a flexible, Silicon-like skin. Soft-covered forms cost more than the hard variety, but they offer an advantage, especially for lingerie and swimsuit companies that make very tight-fitting clothes.

"We created a skin for the breasts, where a minor touch on the breasts will show where the pressure is put in," said Sareen. Using a form with that skin, a lingerie company can tell if a bra is squeezing the body in the wrong places.

Tuka also markets dress forms with layers of fat to resemble heavier customers. With the hard forms, apparel makers can't detect where the fat shifts when someone puts on clothes.

Tuka is working on getting its forms to better replicate the density of human fat so those shifts can be detected as they occur in real life.

"The real challenge is not taking a perfect body and making it better, but taking the imperfect bodies in the large sizes and duplicating that," Sareen said.

RACHEL BROWN Staff Reporter