Top Manta | Artists Series // Top Manta Lottery

Current legislation in Spain and institutional racism prevent migrant people fleeing their home countries, whether due to poverty, war, violence or persecution, from accessing legal and decent work.

We are migrants and we are people of peace; we risk our own lives fleeing from our countries in order to have a decent job and help our families to survive. Upon arrival to Spain, our dreams are broken, we are treated as criminals, imprisoned or deported and considered ‘migrants in irregular situation’, not having the right to residence and work, neither access to basic social services such as education, housing and health.

In order to regularize our situation, we are required to remain in Spain for at least 3 years, but we have no right to work. In order to survive, we work as street vendors, but it is considered an illegal activity and when we are detained by the police, this criminal record prevents our regularization for another 5 years. We are thus trapped by the system, which prevents us from having a decent job and criminalizes us, being the constant target of the police, politicians and the media.

Many people think they know what Top Manta and the Top Manta vendors are, but only a few have come and talked to us and asked us what our story is.
Everybody has a story to tell. This is ours.

2014
––– Our journey starts in Senegal. We used to be able to fish on our shores to make a living, but eventually the fishing multinationals, among them Spanish companies, established themselves in the area, and little by little they took from us all chance of surviving as fishermen. If we are able to tell you this story, it’s because we managed to get to Europe. We crossed borders filled with excitement for a better life.

2015
––– A group of 200 street vendors in Barcelona joined forces together and founded the Street Vendors’ Trade Union to have our own voice, stand up for our rights and negotiate with the public administrations.

2017
––– We launched the Top Manta brand with the intent to improve our living standards as a group, help get people off the street, and develop creative communication campaigns to explain the injustices of a fake system.

2019
––– Top Manta has become a social and political agent of reference in the city of Barcelona and is closely intertwined with multiple social movements. Thanks to the brand we have been able to legalise the lives of many colleagues.

The system still considers us illegal people, but we have no time to lose. That’s why we have started to make legal clothing. Our dream is to get more people off the streets. That’s why we need you to contribute to our project by purchasing a Top Manta Lottery ticket!

Artists series // Top Manta Lottery is the brand’s second collection. It’s a very special one since it coincides with our union’s fourth anniversary.

For this collection, world-renowned artists have dipped their brushes in an exclusive edition of 20 vintage denim jackets.

20 art pieces, unique in the world, created specially for Top Manta! As we could not decide on a price for these unique creations, we have decided to create the Top Manta Lottery. In order to get hold of one of these jackets, you have to purchase one ticket—or as many as you like—and take part in the raffle that will be held on January 6th.

World-renowned artists dip their brushes in an exclusive edition of 20 vintage denim jackets in collaboration with the Top Manta Barcelona brand.

How much could such a special jacket cost?
We could not decide on a price, because these jackets are just priceless!

That’s why we propose a game. To be able to play, you just need to have €10 and purchase a Top Manta Lottery ticket. You have time until January 6th to buy as many tickets as you like.

he more tickets you buy, the more likely it will be for you to take one of these jackets home! On January 6th we’ll be holding the raffle and we’ll know what the lucky numbers are. 3, 2, 1 … welcome to the Top Manta Lottery.

First of all, we thank you for trusting us and for supporting our group.
Did you know that Top Manta is a brand that allocates most of its earnings to the collective profit? Let us tell you about our journey:

The first thing we did was register as a non-profit. You can already find us as the Barcelona Street Vendors’ Trade Union Association (Asociación Sindicato Popular de Vendedores Ambulantes de Barcelona)!

Little by little (we are travelers and we know that it’s a long journey) we will reach our destination: we are going to create our own cooperative, a social company linked to the fashion industry and anti-racist fight. We are certain that thanks to your purchase, you will be walking this path with us.

Below, we share with you the list of the funds our money is allocated to. The following popular planning has been decided at the assemblies organised with all the vendors, as we always do:

Housing fund: 20%
Legal fundl: 20%
Health fund: 20%
Education fund: 13%
Future cooperative: 13%
Political participation: 7%
Culture: 7 %