Barcelona’s Immigrant Street Vendors Use Their Workshops to Start Making Protective Masks and Gowns

Commonly known in Spain as ‘manteros’, these street vendors who are a part of the Poplar Union of Street Vendors and the brand Top Manta have turned their shop in the Raval neighbourhood in Barcelona into a sewing workshop to produce gowns and masks for the hospitals in Cataluña.

IN a statement released this Friday by Top Manta, they outlined that they currently make use of eight different sewing machines and their own fabrics to make ‘thousands of masks’ as they have also joined the fight against the coronavirus crisis. They have joined the likes of RobinHat de Rubi and the Sentmenant Town Hall in using their own materials to create protective gear for hospitals and medical staff.

They have conditioned their workspace to adapt to the 1.5 metre distance required between workers to ensure safety, and they have been following ‘all the rules on occupational risks derived from the coronavirus crisis,’ they have assured.