COMPANY HISTORY

Founded in 2003, Mannikkins^® is Alicia Gerena’s vision for fashion for a large underrepresented demographic—the “grown-up woman.” Mannikkins offers the mature woman up-to-date fashions that offer style, versatility, comfort and value. Mannikkins designs, develops and produces a distinctive line of contemporary women's apparel and accessories.

VISION

“No one was designing clothing for me or my age group.” This realization inspired Alicia Gerena to design a line of women's apparel with the 30-50 year-old age group expressly in mind. “I got tired of coming back from fruitless shopping trips. It was depressing. Everything was too decollete or skimpy. I felt the designers had abandoned the baby boomers to pursue a younger and trendier consumer.”

Alicia saw the fashion industry producing wonderful, exciting new materials that were not being offered in fashions she would want to purchase. She felt she was in “no-womans-land,” somewhere between “low-rise jeans for teenagers and olive-drab pantsuits for grannies.”

Mannikkins is about fashions that are exciting to wear. “Women my age want to be fashionable,” says Alicia, “They want color, sexy fabrics, uneven hemlines and above-the-knee skirts. We still feel sexy and want our clothing to reflect that attitude. My consumer wants to look and feel great. She doesn’t want to be reminded of her age, but she will also not put herself into something that is inappropriate.”

Mannikkins fills the fashion gap for the grown-up woman. As Alicia sums it up, “My designs have a young attitude for women like me.”

VERSATILITY CREATES LIGHTER SUITCASES

Are you tired of lugging around heavy suitcases? Alicia Gerena, founder of Mannikkins was, that’s why she concentrated her unique line of clothing on creating a selection of garments that could be worn in a variety of ways. With only a few garments, the traveling woman can create a variety of fresh looks. In addition, Mannikkins versatile line of apparel features light-weight fabrics that require no dry cleaning! Take a look at Mannikkins reversible long and short tubes which can be worn as tops, skirts, dresses or belts. With just two of these reversible garments you can create nine different looks—from fun and sassy to classical elegance. And, best of all, your suitcases will literally shed pounds!

ABOUT ALICIA

Alicia grew up in the garment industry in the Bronx in New York City. Her father founded a highly successful women’s apparel line. At the age of seventeen, Alicia worked in the family’s factories learning every aspect of the business. Fashion is "in her blood." Alicia pursued other interests before her inspiration for Mannikkins lead her to produce this wonderful line of contemporary clothing for the grown-up woman.