Barcelona brand gives migrant hawkers a legal foothold in fashion

BARCELONA: In a sunlit Barcelona studio, models pose in garments stitched and screen-printed by migrants who once played cat-and-mouse with police to sell counterfeit goods on the Spanish city’s streets.

Behind the scenes, a dozen workers at Top Manta – a cooperative of former street vendors – cut, stitch and print a 10-piece upcycled capsule collection designed by local creative Tania Marcial.

Senegalese tailor Djibi Gabigag, 28, arrived in Barcelona as an undocumented migrant and initially survived by selling goods from the sidewalk. Joining Top Manta gave him purpose, he said.

“Before, I didn’t have a degree or studies. I was always selling,” he said.

Spain has seen a migration boom in recent years, swelling its dwindling population and bolstering its economy. Irregular migrants made up about 6% of the total last year, says the government, with most arriving from West Africa via the Canary Islands in rickety wooden fishing boats or dinghies.

Lamine Sarr and Aziz Faye migrated from Senegal to the Canary Islands in 2006 and also worked as street hawkers. They founded Top Manta with its origins in a street vendors’ union set up after a migrant hawker died in a 2015 police raid.

The pair say they have now helped more than 200 people leave street vending and apply for formal residency in Spain.

About 700,000 migrants in Spain remain in legal limbo, according to Catholic charity Caritas, unable to work formally or gather the paperwork needed to secure residency, pushing many into black-market jobs.

Top Manta’s work contracts offer a foothold in formal life. Its garments are stitched with slogans such as “Migration is not a crime” and “Legal clothing, illegal people”.

In the studio, a beaming Gabigag posed in his own creation. “When I wear Top Manta I feel good, normal, cool, happy. It’s a brand like any other,” he said.