{{Short description|American footwear brand}} {{Infobox company | name = Atoms | image = | image_size = 210px | image_caption = The Atoms Model 000 in black & white | native_name = | native_name_lang = | former_name = | type = Private | slogan = | industry = Footwear | founded = 2019 | founders = {{Plainlist| *Waqas Ali *Sidra Qasim}} | location = Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York | website = {{URL|https://atoms.com/}} }}{{Upe|date=June 2024}} '''Atoms''' is a privately held footwear brand, based in Brooklyn, New York, that designs, develops and sells footwear.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Okwodu |first1=Janelle |date=3 June 2019 |title=Meet the Sneaker Brand Set to Disrupt the Fashion Industry |work=Vogue |publisher= |url=https://www.vogue.com/article/atoms-sneaker-launch-quarter-sizes-disrupting-fashion |accessdate=28 June 2019}}</ref> Atoms offers quarter size shoes and allows customers to buy pairs of shoes in two different sizes.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Evans |first1=Jonathan |date=10 June 2019 |title=Startup Sneaker Brand Atoms Just Fixed One of the Biggest Problems With Shopping for Shoes |work=Esquire |publisher= |url=https://www.esquire.com/style/mens-fashion/a27821659/atoms-sneakers-quarter-sizes-review-launch/ |accessdate=28 June 2019}}</ref>
== History ==
Atoms was founded by husband and wife Waqas Ali and Sidra Qasim in San Francisco.<ref> {{cite news |last1=Stolzoff |first1=Simone |date=26 November 2018 |title=Will the Next Great Tech Company Come From the Developing World? |work=The Atlantic |publisher= |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2018/11/the-next-great-tech-company/568756/ |accessdate=28 June 2019}}</ref> In 2012, they started their first footwear company as students at Forman Christian College University, Lahore<ref>{{Cite web |last=Khan |first=Nosherwan |date=2016-06-15 |title=The Markhor – Sidra Qasim & Waqas Ali |url=https://www.rozee.pk/blog/2016/06/the-markhor-sidra-qasim-waqas-ali/ |access-date=2023-03-12 |website=The Rozee Blog |language=en-US}}</ref> named 'Markhor' (originally Hometown) in Pakistan, while working with craftsmen in their hometown of Basirpur in Okara, Pakistan.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Tajammul |first1=Khizr |date=10 July 2015 |title=Shoes with a story: Markhor is a start-up you should know about |work=Dawn.com |publisher= |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1191423 |accessdate=28 June 2019}}</ref> In 2015, the couple moved to Mountain View as part of Y Combinator's accelerator program.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Magee |first1=Christine |date=11 August 2015 |title=Markhor Takes The Middleman Out Of Designer Shoemaking |work=TechCrunch |url=https://techcrunch.com/2015/08/11/markhor-takes-the-middleman-out-of-designer-shoemaking/ |accessdate=28 June 2019}}</ref> They were inspired by the challenges that most people still wear shoes that do not fit properly.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Holmes |first1=Elizabeth |date=15 June 2014 |title=Feet Are Getting Bigger, and Many People Wear Shoes That Don't Fit Right |work=Wall Street Journal |publisher= |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/feet-are-getting-bigger-and-many-people-wear-shoes-that-dont-fit-right-1405466145 |accessdate=28 June 2019}}</ref> The founders wanted to design a shoe that people would use every day. Atoms started selling via invite-only access on its website and built a waitlist of over 40,000 people before publicly launching on June 3, 2019.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Moore |first1=Kaleigh |date=16 May 2019 |title=Why Online Fashion Retailers Are Experimenting With Invite-Only Access |work=Forbes |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kaleighmoore/2019/05/16/why-online-fashion-retailers-are-experimenting-with-invite-only-access/ |accessdate=28 June 2019}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Shoe brands Category:Companies based in Brooklyn Category:Shoe companies of the United States Category:2019 establishments in New York City Category:American companies established in 2019