Introduction to manikins

Mannequin or manikin has undergone several changes since they were introduced in the 15th century. The earlier manikins were used by fashion producers to evaluate size and fit, and in window display. The technological developments have led to the design of manikin that can provide objective results for a controlled environment such as automotive interior and perform objective tests to evaluate various parameters of protective clothing used in areas such as firefighting, defense, hot metal splash, and cold weather protection. This chapter deals with the history of manikin development including their chronological developments. This chapter also covers different types of manikins, recent developments, and their application areas in various fields. A brief description on the contents of each chapter has also been included. This chapter will help the readers to gain preliminary knowledge of manikins before reading other chapters, which are focusing specific areas of application.