History

I, Ganden Lachungpa was born and raised in Lachung, a mountainous village in the extreme north of Sikkim. As a child I would often see trekkers and mountaineers passing through our village. Their colorful gear – backpacks, sleeping bags, tents fascinated me. I can still remember metal frames sticking out of the backpacks; sleeping bags and tents spread out to dry; burly, bearded men in monkey-caps sipping steaming tea from their metal mugs, ladies merrily walking with huge backpacks on their backs. I also had my first experience of tasting a candy bar palmed out to me and other children while walking to our village school. Like them, I wanted to explore too. As I grew older my fascination with the gear grew. On the way to school I would run after anyone carrying a backpack to see the design of the pack or even to wonder at the compactness of the sleeping bag neatly tied under the pack. I just loved the names such as The North Face or Macpac those gears carry on them – they must be lasting a lifetime!! The strength those gears exuded then left a lasting impression on me. I wanted to make them too when I was older.

 Atlas now

 Atlas was incorporated as a private limited company in the year 1992 in the name of ATLAS MANUFACTURING COMPANY PVT.LTD.with the objective of providing products and services that would help people explore and enjoy nature. Everything that went into the process of manufacturing and marketing outdoor gear – incorporation, finance, man power, raw materials fell in place although they happened not as easily as thought of during childhood. Arranging finance for establishment was a major problem – nobody wanted to fund a project for “bumming around mountains”. If not for the encouragement from my mother who spent her whole life in the mountains and particularly my wife who is a keen naturalist, Atlas wouldn’t have taken root and taken off. “I’ll buy your products”, my wife would say when I was struggling with the project preparation initially.

For the first time in the history of Sikkim, we developed the skill in making backpacks. Men, who were used to stitching everything else except what I wanted to make, would wonder and say, “oh, jhola?" meaning "a bag?". None looked confident to make sleeping bag. Tents – much less. I asked if they could use scissors, they would reply “yes”. I asked if they stitched, they would reply “that’s what we do”. They were excited when I said “that’s all I want”.  A precondition to a job with us however was that one has to be a regular outdoorsman oneself. This was necessary to understand the actual field conditions and to design the products for those situations.

We bought out every conceivable product as samples to “xerox” and that was easy!! Acquaintances and friends would bring in brands from everywhere. In the process, we had collections from all over the world now sliced-up, measured, dissected and mauled on our work tables. The North Face (from the US) and Macpac (New Zealand grown) particularly caught our attention for their meticulous craftsmanship and strength. To this day we still have them as our icons to emulate. And because of them school children complained that our school bags last too long and their parents wouldn't buy them new bags! We felt their honest sentiments and we have since stopped making school bags.

Kumar, a keen trekker and our foreman at the unit sometimes would remark “ hami pani banau” (Let's make too). According to him, everything we make should exceed a buyer’s expectation. And this has remained our motto.

The rest is history.

Phunyi River view on way to Yumthang