We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Carol Huls a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Carol thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I didn’t actually come up with the idea of DittoForm. This is what happened…
I am not a natural entrepreneur. I never had a vision or goal to own my own business.
In fact, if you look at my resume you would notice I have changed jobs many, many times. I have worked in a variety of fields, from non-profit to Fortune 500 companies, and in nearly every level of an organization – with the exception of C-suite level leadership. [I guess now I have that too!]

When I had left what I refer to as my last “real job,” I decided to take a minute to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. So I was doing lots of part-time gigs. One of them was with a small sewing studio. The owner, Allison Lince-Bentley needed someone 10 hours a week to do basic admin things – including tasks like vacuuming the studio after evening classes so she could get home to her small children. She had recently formalized a side business. She and her business partner, Mary Flynn, had been prototyping a process of using digital images from real people to create custom models out of foam – dress forms – to be used by individuals in the making of garments, costumes, things meant for a specific person. That was DittoForm.

A major magazine learned about the product and wrote a national article about it – and soon people were flying to DC to get their body 3d scanned and order their DittoForm. The initial response was so great that Lince-Bentley and Flynn needed someone else to help make the models. And there I was.

And I loved it. So much so that when the original owners decided to discontinue the product/business, I tried to convince them to keep going and I would buy in as a partner. They declined that offer – and sold me the business instead.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

In the world of sewing and costume design, a dress form is model of a human torso used by creators to visualize how a garment will look when worn – that is, on a body rather than on a hanger or laid flat. Unfortunately, commercially available dress forms do not look like real people. They are symmetrical and are made in standard sizes based on idealistic measurements – many based on an outdated unscientific study of an “average” American.

A DittoForm is a custom dress form. It is a model of a specific person. The process is started by using high-resolution 3d scanning technology to capture an individual’s image. Computer-operated machinery then 3d carves the image in a durable, pin-able foam. The result is a copy, a ditto, of a real person.

Over the years dressmakers and tailors have used various methods to create models of their customers, including customizing a standard dress form with padding, etc. There are even DIY options to capture a person’s shape using plaster, paper tape and even duct tape.

Having the idea to use a 3d digital image to make a copy of a person is not unique to DittoForm. The reason you do not see lots of companies doing this is that it is hard – and expensive. Human bodies are relatively easy to capture in the right conditions due to the amount of geometry (shape) and texture (color) in our bodies. However, we move. Even when we’re standing still, blood is still pumping and breath is still coming in and out. Also Humans are soft and squishy, whereas the materials that are best for both structure and durability are not.

DittoForm is unique in our approach to meeting with customers in person to capture their image. DittoForm’s travel scan sites allow for customers to have easier access to the scans closer to their home. By meeting with me or one of my personally trained scan technicians, DittoForm clients receive a level of communication and interaction that builds confidence and trust.

In addition, the resolution of our scanning equipment was designed for precision engineering – not humans specifically – so the software captures what it sees without making any assumptions. 3d body scanning software often has assumptions built in such that it applies aggregated data to the image – eg a person at such a height and weight with a set of certain demographics will have a certain shape.

We also believe that DittoForm’s materials offer a durable product. The particular formula for our chosen foam creates a substance that is carvable, and yet will not shatter into pieces.

My “why”
I love this business. I get to meet the most creative people. I help them see themselves as they are – without judgement words. No one is Normal or Abnormal. Everyone has a unique body. There is no standard.

A DittoForm is a tool that you use to create clothing and costumes designed for your body. Express your creativity. Have well-fitting garments. And most importantly, be comfortable knowing you are You.

And I think that is Pretty Awesome.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Print ads and magazines no longer appear on the list of recommended strategies for most businesses. However, for people who have enjoyed garment making for many years – their go-to source is Threads Magazine (*not related to Threads the social media platform). Subscribers save the magazines as a resource – much like National Geographic. I started advertising in 2018. Starting about 2020, people started mentioning that they saw it in the most recent issue of Threads. They hadn’t consciously seen it before. It was there – lurking in their peripheral/subconscious vision until they were ready. This year I estimate about half of my customers found DittoForm in Threads and completed their research online.

Our online presence is a process in continuous improvement. DittoForm.com is undergoing a re-vamp from largely text oriented (read all the information) to a more visual way to identify the specific information you want. In addition, DittoForm’s social media account has gotten an infusion of creativity from my very supportive family. I have an almost-teenager nephew who is very interested in the creation of short videos and other content. He and his mom have been working on ideas together, building content for DittoForm based on trending audio, etc. It has been a win-win situation.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I purchased the company in 2018, moving the base of operations to Detroit, Michigan. DittoForm benefits from relationships with design engineers and master crafts-persons – as well as the region’s growing fashion design and clothing manufacturing industries. I joined several business organizations and networked with women business owners at every opportunity. In 2019 I was awarded second place in Michigan Women Forward’s Woman Up and Pitch contest. I also attended an international 3D body scanning conference in Switzerland, stopping in London on the way back to explore the possibility of manufacturing there. I had Big Plans. Then it was 2020….and the world shut down.

I will confess, however, that I was not prepared to expand at that level. I had not yet learned how to operate a successful, efficient and profitable business. I knew enough to hire professionals to cover key parts: accounting, legal, tax preparation, etc., but there was so much I did not know.

Do you remember March 2020? I call it the Great Pause. I think that the Universe knew I was out of my depth and needed a break to learn all the things — and so you can blame the Pandemic and Shut-downs on me.

While that’s a joke – the truth is that break from manufacturing for a bit gave me the chance to figure out what I was doing in more areas of business operation. And more importantly, why I wanted to do it. I love helping people embrace their own creativity and their own bodies, as unique. Their body without judgement. DittoForm provides a tool to do that.

I focussed on my customers: finding ways to allow the easiest access to DittoForm. In responding to public health restrictions on group gatherings, I began doing scans in individual homes. I brought the equipment to them. This plan led to further efforts to develop personal connections, furthering trust with customers and building the reputation that DittoForm really cares about individual people.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dittoform.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dittoform/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dittoforms/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dittoform
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@dittoform