Marina Esmeraldo

And I was in that system as well, but I came from a place of privilege.

I just had a different set of circumstances that really allowed me to benefit from the process in a way that they couldn't.

I'd always known that I wanted to leave Brazil and...

maybe live abroad but that was never really clear how that was going to be sustainable but once I got to Barcelona I just completely fell in love with the place and even before the first time I visited it there was just something about the place that I knew I was meant to be there and I wanted to be there for 10 months and it's been 10 years.

The first time I got to Barcelona, a few days in, I was visiting Parc Güell, one of Gaudí's big works in the city, with my family.

And there were Manteros there with their blankets and their wares spread on the blankets.

And people love to come up and touch everything and try them on and bargain and that kind of thing.

but it was just this undercurrent of tension that i felt particularly on this day because i could see that the guy was tense i think the police were coming up

And he just wanted to leave, but he was also waiting to conclude a sale.

And I don't remember if he did or not, but I just remember being left with this strong impression of, oh, wow, these guys have a hard time.

I think that Barcelona has a racial diversity problem.

I think that on the one hand, it's an amazing, tolerant place that people can just be and do their thing.

But I think that it's not really as integrated and diverse as it could be.

We all were, you know, mingling a little bit and introducing ourselves to each other and we were...

going there to collect our jackets.

They were beautiful denim vintage or, you know, I don't know if vintage is the right name because vintage is supposedly 25 years old.

But they were just these beautiful garments that we were going to customize.

And the guys came out and they were, you know, they were greeting us.

us there and everything and then they started to invite everyone to sit down and they started to tell us their story i just remember listening deeply and listening to their story and just really feeling um full of emotion and that emotion it inspired the design she put on that jacket

On my jacket, I wrote, no one is illegal, which is one of the messages that they often use in the apparel that they make.