"You set up at a trade show and everyone around stops and watches what you're pulling out of the boxes, because they're always the coolest thing at the show," said Ryan Mitton of his mannequins. The geologist left the oil business for them and now does everything from attending trade shows to online marketing, distribution, and soon manufacturing.

It's all the result of a decision he made from the heart.

"She left and 10 days after she left, I bought a ticket and was gone the next day. I followed her," said Mitton referring to the woman by his side.

He followed her to Thailand where he was captivated by her smile, as well as the smiles of plastic women everywhere in that country.

"Who wouldn't want her?" he laughed, holding one of his mannequins sporting a big laugh, and colourful hair, eyes and lips. They may be stiff and can't talk, but they can sure catch your attention - and you can't help but smile.

"They notice it," said Barry Weed at Nevada Bob's golf store of his customers' reaction to the mannequins. "If you had a basic mannequin, maybe a headless one or a full one without a head, it's there but they don't notice them. We've had people feel like someone's watching them. They can feel the eyes from behind them."

Mitton's ladies and men are being sold in more than 15 countries around the world to boutiques and the big chains.   He had an angel investor who loaned him $10,000 to follow his dream, which has become a big business reality. And while the mannequins feel like family to him...

"We'll get started on a real family, one that talks back," he said.