US Sherpa, which produces outdoor lifestyle accessories knit by Nepali artisans, as well as hosts guided trekking and mountaineering trips to Nepal, announced a new logo that it said captures the cultural, social, and environmental elements of the brand and its products.
“Our new logo illustrates where we came from, who we are today and where we are going,” said US Sherpa founder, Ongyel Sherpa. “It unites the skylines of Nepal’s Mt. Everest in red and Vermont’s Mt. Mansfield in green, capturing the brand’s bi-cultural identity where the skylines intersect in blue.”
When Ongyel Sherpa was 18 years old, Vermont-based doctor and mountaineer Geoff Tabin, who had summited Everest with Ongyel’s uncle Nima Tashi Sherpa, sponsored Ongyel to work and study in Vermont. “I was one in a million to be able to come to the U.S., and to get a college education,” said Ongyel. “For me, the opportunity came with responsibility.”
After earning his business degree, Ongyel founded US Sherpa in 2006 to support Sherpa and other Nepalis without access to education and stable employment, and to preserve Nepali culture. US Sherpa unites Nepali tradition and Western aesthetics with handknit and handwoven accessories that preserve culture and provide sustainable jobs and stable income for artisans in Nepal’s Himalayan mountains. Its natural-fiber outdoor lifestyle products are collaboratively designed, hand-spun, hand-knitted, woven on traditional handlooms, and stitched with traditional construction time-tested in the high Himalayan mountains.
“Our vision is to be the authentic Sherpa outdoor lifestyle brand that produces functional, high-quality accessories in Nepal for people who enjoy active lifestyles, care about the environment and about the people that produce the goods they use,” said Ongyel.
Ongyel Sherpa
US Sherpa is the only Sherpa-owned outdoor lifestyle brand in the United States. Its core values—social responsibility, fair trade, sustainability, and preserving the culture and heritage of Nepal—are the foundation of everything the company does.
This year, US Sherpa has renewed its commitment to providing the finest natural fiber accessories for outdoor enthusiasts through specialty outdoor retailers. Its new Khumbu collection showcases single-gauge, vibrantly colored, distinctively patterned gloves and hats that are warm and light with natural water resistance for active, cold-weather, outdoor activities.
US Sherpa currently works with 200 retail partners, and Ongyel plans to grow the brand with outdoor specialty shops that value authenticity, quality, craftsmanship, and sustainability.
“We are an authentic, BIPOC-owned brand that works cross-culturally with a grassroots global supply chain committed to long-term employment and fair pay for the Nepali artisans that create US Sherpa,” said Ongyel. “We are small, but we do big things. Thank you for joining us on this journey.”
