CAN MARFA
Mataró has the chance of not losing an important part of its history, and certainly not that one with most memories that brings us progress, work and universality.
Mataró, the capital of the knitwear industry, cannot forget its industrial development. A Mataró that grew thanks to the work and effort of a lot of people, men and women, of all social conditions.
A memory that has to live on as a historic and educational element. Starting from the preservation of an emblematic building for a great number of people and whole families who worked there, a building of a significant symbolic and architectonic value, which together with the collection of knitting and sewing machines, pieces and accessories that the Jaume Vilaseca Foundation has been gathering, preserving and restoring. It is the exponent and symbol of the stages contributed by Mataró to the dynamics of progress..

ART COLLECTION
With the participation of the artists of Mataró and those of our comarca (area) we have begun to create an art collection with the aim of relating different techniques of expression to knitwear.

MACHINES AND TOOLS
Knitwear has been and continues to be an essential part of development in our town: it is consubstantial with our identity. Today, thanks to a great number of people who have participated in the project of the future Knitwear Museum, we have at our disposal more than 250 machines manufactured by workshops in Catalonia, many of them already restored and in good working order.
Workshop tools of the 20th century, wooden machines, machines to knit barretines (Catalan caps), berets or socks, and circular knitting machines to produce pieces of cloth. Sewing machines, workbenches. Press irons, spools...

KNITTED CLOTH
We all use articles made of knitwear: socks, breeches, pants, undershirts, pullovers, tracksuits, tights, scarves, ties, gloves, caps, bathing suits, stockings... and one of the main characteristics of knitwear is its elasticity that fits the body and suits the fashion, and has been successful to obtain even more importance throughout the years.
In Mataró, one of the leading centres of knitwear in the world, the whole sort of this cloth has been produced and continues to be produced, as well as other products unrelated to fashion, such as medical articles, technical and industrial cloths.

INFORMATION
All information related to the knitwear in Catalonia: the evolution of the workshops in the machinery manufacturing, the factories, the making-up, the industrial relations... are the subject matter of study, recovery and cataloguing.
Also company catalogues, publicity materials: items, drawings, posters, presentations, etc. Photos of exhibitions, fabric samplers, social activities, trade unions...