Help by buying masks made by craftswomen in the region

Platform allows you to find seamstresses nearby so you can buy protection masks against COVID-19. Among them, the craftswomen who participate Rede CriaNorte, developed in a partnership between Instituto Center Norte and Rede Asta.

Facial masks have become a weapon in the whole world to fight the coronavirus pandemic. This is a moment in which sewing masks has become a source of income for many of the artisans that are now facing financial hardship during quarantine.

To make ends meet amidst this new reality, Rede Asta, which has helped craftswomen become entrepreneurs for over 15 years, developed the “Mask Locator”, a platform that allows to find and contact 800 seamstresses and artisans producing facial masks in 170 cities in Brazil, mostly in the Southeast region. Thanks to the geopositioning, it is possible to have the masks delivered in a short time, making seamstresses and the population in the region closer. Among them, the craftswomen who participate Rede CriaNorte, developed in a partnership between Instituto Center Norte and Rede Asta.

“In many cases, the only family member that has an income is the craftswoman. Therefore, they now have a direct impact with the pandemic and many are going through hardship. Brazil has more than 10 million artisans. This tool gathers some of them, but others can still participate”, says Alice Freitas, co-founder of the network with Rachel Schettino in 2005, during an interview for Casa Vogue magazine.

Alice explains that the participating artisans profile is, in general, women at 40 to 60 years of age, from the C and E social classes and, for 80% of them, the handcraft is the family’s single source of income. Each of them have a production capacity of 60 masks a day.

“Many women make masks, but don’t know how to sell them. This will be a direct contact with potential buyers. We can ship by mail, have it delivered or masks can be picked up. I have faith that the platform will help us to sell more pieces, because we need it”, celebrates Luciane Braga, 50 years old, one of the seamstresses located in São Paulo, who lives with the 87-year-old parents, and participates the platform.

Tip from the Blog

Do you know any artisan that produces masks? Tell her about the project and she can sign up to participate.