Barcelona’s street vendors launch new sneaker line
The Ande Dem shoe, designed and produced by Top Manta, a brand formed by Barcelona’s street vendors (photo: Top Manta)
A co-operative of street vendors from Barcelona have released a new line of sneakers after forming a streetwear brand, Top Manta.
Barcelona’s vendors, or manteros, are most often associated with selling cheap copies of designer shoes and handbags on the side of the city’s streets. Their name is derived from the mantas, or blankets, on which they display their goods and from which the brand has derived its name.
A similar venture had been attempted in 2017, when the manteros imported shoes from China which they subsequently re-branded. This time, however, the shoes will all be produced locally.
Top Manta’s sneakers are being manufactured in Porto, Portugal, and Alicante, Spain. According to the brand’s website, the shoes are made in small local workshops in an attempt to offer a fairer alternative to global streetwear brands, whose mass production often comes at the price of extremely low wages for workers.
The new sneaker design is called Ande Dem, which means “walking together” in Wolof, a language spoken by the majority of vendors, many of whom come from Senegal. The shoes have a robust, structured sole, which means they are better suited to activities such as manual labour, rather than running or sports.
The design of the shoes was led by group of local manteros along with the assistance of Sara González de Ubieta, an architect and designer, and Helga Juárez, a graphic designer. The brand hopes that through its new production line it can better support street vendor immigrants in Barcelona, who often live in precarious legal and social conditions. This has been exacerbated by the pandemic, which meant that many manteros were excluded from any state aid.
“These are people who can’t claim unemployment benefit and there’s been no government support,” Lamine Sarr, a Top Manta spokesperson, told The Guardian in an interview. “We established a food bank and we set up sewing machines and people came here to the shop to work on a voluntary basis sewing shoes and clothes.”
The team behind Top Manta are also responsible for creating the indicato de Vendedores Ambulantes de Barcelona (Union of Street Vendors of Barcelona) five years ago. Through the creation of Top Manta, they have now been able to get legal residency for 120 manteros and found jobs for 25 of its members, as well as running sewing and language classes to support more immigrants to gain legal residency in Spain.
All profits from Top Manta go towards supporting the brand and helping manteros and their families.
Story source: Top Manta and The Guardian.