Broomfield company miles ahead in mannequins.

• Author: ANDERSEN, KRISTIN
• Position: Fusion Specialties Inc. - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

You probably don't think of Broomfield as practically the mannequin capital of the world. But for about 10 years now, Broomfield has been home to Fusion Specialties Inc., a major maker of "forms" -- those headless, and usually footless, mannequins displaying the latest fashions at such stores as The Limited, J. Crew and, now, The Gap.

With the addition of The Gap, "Probably not this year but ... next year in terms of revenues, we probably will be the biggest mannequin manufacturer in world," said Jim Talaric, president.

Talaric, 54, started the company in Huntington Beach, Calif., in the mid-1980s after a stint as a manufacturer's rep in the mannequin business. Before that, he sold pharmaceuticals, and before that he wanted to be a Los Angeles fireman. He eventually moved the growing company to Colorado, seeking more space and a "cheaper" area. Today, the $10 million-plus company has about 100 employees working in its 60,000-square-foot facility.

"We are state-of-the-art in the way we manufacture mannequins," Talaric said. In 1992, the company developed a proprietary material called "e-flex" (a flexible plastic) to replace fiberglass, which cracks if dropped and takes a long time to apply and cure. Shooting e-flex into a mold cuts application time from 40 seconds to 10 seconds and curing time from 3 hours to 15 minutes. The company can produce 300 forms per day on...