Meet Atas Awan: the Melbourne-based Brand at the Intersection of Fashion and Climbing Culture

Atas Awan is an outdoors apparel and climbwear brand with an urban spirit. Based in Melbourne and ethically made in Bali, Indonesia, the brand creates versatile clothing inspired by fashion and outdoorsmanship. Atas Awan, as a brand grounded in its passion for climbing culture, designs each garment with movement in mind – whether for hiking or moving through everyday life.

The brand’s co-founders, Faustina Setiawan, Marie Chalhoub, and Grace Wei, connected over similar values that are encapsulated by Atas Awan. Faustina fell in love with climbing when she moved to Melbourne for her post-graduate program, where she met Marie and connected over their desire to build a fashion-forward outdoors brand that takes innovation in sustainability seriously. Grace, who was Faustina’s former classmate and friend from Toronto, later joined the founding collective. The co-founders, with roots in Canada and Australia, share a deep appreciation for outdoor heritage and wanted to build something new in the realm of functional fashion.

“I began climbing and going outdoors 4 years ago – and I was immediately hooked. I felt so strongly about sharing the joys I found through the outdoors and through climbing with the world, and being a fashion stylist, clothing was my form of expression. I felt like climbing was finally starting to gain mass traction, but the clothing options you would find were always hyper-technical, traditional and lacked a modern-fit – particularly for women. But that meant that we had the space to experiment and carve a white space in this niche. This intersection between design, the outdoors and climbing was what sparked the start of Atas Awan – our clothing brand inspired by climb culture,” says Faustina.

“We aim to address the gap in the women’s market within the climbing community. We heard many stories of women having to shop in the men’s sections to find their desired fit. We wanted to create pieces that work both for climbing and everyday activities, so our customers don’t have to wear our clothes for specific activities only,” adds Marie.

Atas Awan, which means ‘above clouds’ in Indonesian, is an homage to Faustina’s hometown of Bali, a landscape that played a big role in shaping her love for the outdoors and passion for sustainability. In its fabric choices, Atas Awan uses a mix of deadstock fabric, bamboo cotton, biodegradable TENCEL fabric, organic cotton, and REPREVE, which is made of recycled plastic bottles. Atas Awan also partners with an ethical, family-owned manufacturer in Bali that pays independent seamstresses above market rates for their work. While ‘greenwashing’ is a hot topic among outdoor brands, Atas Awan believes that sustainability is a practice rather than a destination or a checkbox.

“I love that, rather than focusing on one aspect of sustainability, we strive for an overall standard of decency from production to community engagement,” says Grace.

In terms of what’s next, Atas Awan is emphasizing versatility and modularity through the launch of its bestselling Boundless Convertible Pants in three different colors and its inaugural climbing-inspired accessory, the 4-in-1 Modular Crag Bag. The Boundless Convertible Pants, in addition to its adjustable waistband and deep pockets, switches from pants to shorts in seconds by zipping on or off. In the same spirit, the Modular Crag Bag can be worn in 4 ways – as a large crossbody bag, a backpack, and a detachable chalk bag that can also be worn as a crossbody purse.

Atas Awan will be featured at the Finders Keepers in Melbourne from Friday, July 12 to Sunday, July 14 where audiences can interact with and experience items from the latest collection.