Top manta: Barcelona’s street sellers to launch online store

A fashion label employing undocumented immigrants kicks off a crowdfunding to help boost the project

Aziz Faye, a member of the street sellers union (by Elisenda Rosanas)
Aziz Faye, a member of the street sellers union (by Elisenda Rosanas) / Alan Ruiz Terol

Alan Ruiz Terol | Barcelona

March 12, 2018 05:27 PM

“Legal clothing made by illegal people.” This is the unlikely motto of Top Manta, a fashion label launched by Barcelona’s undocumented street sellers. Currently employing some 15 people and having opened its first store in the city, the brand is now taking another major step: launching a crowdfunding campaign to make their products available online.

The campaign will last 80 days. The objective is to raise 44,529 euros in order to “boost” Top Manta as a “social company in the world of fashion.” The rewards offered to sponsors include t-shirts, hoodies and tote bags with original designs, as well as anti-racist workshops for companies, and invitations to a typically Senegalese lunch or a “Fiesta Mantera” in Barcelona.