Is This Why Stores Cover Mannequin Heads at Night?

The Philippines is shopping mall country. According to a study, there are a staggering 4,709 shopping centers in the Philippines as of 2024. While it may be tough to accurately define what a shopping mall or shopping center actually is, what’s undeniable is that there are tons of retail spaces in cities and municipalities all over the country that offer everything from gadgets and electronics to books and art supplies, to clothes and apparel, and nearly everything else one can think of. 

Clothing stores, in particular, seem to be a fixture in most malls. And, in many boutiques that sell apparel, mannequins are a common sight. Studies have shown that using mannequins can increase sales anywhere from 10 to 35 percent. This is why, for over 500 years, store proprietors have been using mannequins not just to show people what they’re selling but to give customers an idea of how those clothes will look when worn by an actual, real live person.

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Why are mannequin heads covered at night?

If you’ve been to enough malls In the Philippines, you’d notice that there seems to be a practice of covering mannequins with a sheet during closing time. Either a full blanket to cover the entire mannequin or a smaller piece of cloth to cover just the head. Why exactly is this being done?

A Reddit user finally dared to ask the question on the Philippines subreddit, and, as expected, they got a mixed bag of responses. Outside of all the humorous responses (“Para di nila sundan ang mga guard na umiikot sa mall,” “Para makatulog yung mga mannequin nang mahimbing,” “They get aggressive when they’re allowed to stare at each other”), the most thumbed-up response seemed to satisfy most of the commenters. According to u/choco_mallows, it’s all because of security matters.

“Pag roving ng guards or tingin sa CCTV walang false flag na tao sa loob ng shops. Madaling makita if may tao sa after hours,” choco_mallows said.

This would make sense. Even though most shopping malls are closed and locked up each night, security guards are instructed to roam around the property to make sure nothing is out of the ordinary. In a darkened store, it would be easy to mistake a shadowy humanlike figure to be an actual person, and that might trigger panic. Covering up the mannequins is a relatively easy and practical way to make sure that, nope they’re not intruders or burglars, just a lifeless mannequin.

However, we did our own digging and asked store merchants why staff would cover up the mannequins. One person we interviewed who works in a high-end shopping mall in Metro Manila but declined to be named said their store clerks cover up the mannequins fully to minimize the dirt and dust that might get into the clothes during the night. We asked why some stores just cover the heads of the mannequins and she said doesn’t have the answer because they cover their mannequins fully with a sheet.

One commenter in the Reddit thread corroborates this statement. U/No-Astronaut3290 who claims to be “a former promoter-merchandiser” says the cover-up is also related to cleanliness.

“Kase sa gabi may pwedeng mag trabaho and yung dust at itim (ma)dumi pwede sya mapunta sa mga damit. It’s not only mannequins but also yung mga naka tupi na damit or anything na exposed.”

U/Ronel_Golosino said something similar. “Para iwas alikabok sa suot ng mannequin. I worked at a retail shop before, protocol siya for our shop every closing time and all of the items inside are also covered lalo sa mga damit.” 

Another former retail worker, U/Informal-Log-2481, contributed to the “so they’re kept clean” theory. “As someone who works at retail aside from capturing culprits in cctv, long before na wala pang cctv, this is called merchandise cover and the sole pupose of this is to cover the merchandise be it mannequin or apparel table from dusts accumulated from aircon vents coz at night. When mall AC is off, the vents are in fan mode and dusts from the mall are accumulated by aircon vents, tendency is to fly over areas such as mannequins and mechandise tables.” 

So that seems to answer the question as far as fully covering the mannequins with a sheet is concerned, but that still leaves the instances when only their heads are covered. For now, we’ll just have to accept choco_mallows’ answer as gospel truth. 

Unless you consider U/AffectionatePrior866’s theory: “Need nila ng beauty rest?”