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This article is about the type of footwear. For the brand known as "UGG", see UGG Australia.

A pair of ugg boots

Ugg boots (sometimes called uggs)[1] are known in Australia and New Zealand as a unisex style of sheepskin boot made of twin-faced sheepskin with fleece on the inside and with a tanned outer surface, often with a synthetic sole. The boots originated in those countries, initially as utilitarian footwear worn for warmth and comfort and later adopted by surfers there during the 1960s. In the 1970s, the boots were introduced to the surf culture of the United Kingdom and the United States by local surfers returning from surfing competitions in Australia. Ugg boots emerged as a fashion trend in the United States in the late 1990s and as a world-wide trend in the late 2000s, yet in Australia they are worn predominantly as slippers and associated with "daggy" fashion sense, and bogan culture.

There has been a dispute between some manufacturers of ugg boots, as to whether "ugg" is a protected trademark, or a generic term and thus ineligible for trademark protection. In Australia and New Zealand, where the term is considered generic, more than 70 registered trade marks include the term UGG in various logos and designs.[2][3][4] By contrast, UGG is a registered trademark of the California-based Deckers Outdoor Corporation in over 140 countries worldwide including the U.S. and China.[4][5]

History

Cutting ugg boot pieces from a sheepskin using a cutting press
Stitching the innersole of an ugg boot

The origins of the ugg boot style are disputed, with both Australia and New Zealand claiming to have been the origin of the footwear.[6] Sheepskin boots were known in rural Australia during the 1920s.[6] While it is not clear when manufacturing started, by 1933 sheepskin boots were being manufactured by Blue Mountains Ugg Boots,[7] and Mortels Sheepskin Factory was making the boots from the late 1950s.[8] Sheepskin footwear accounts for around 10% of footwear production in Australia.[9]

In regard to naming, ugg boots, ugh boots and ug boots have been used as descriptive terms for sheepskin boots in Australia and New Zealand since at least the 1960s,[1][10] although individual accounts have suggested that the terms (or variations thereof) were employed earlier – for example, "fug boots" were worn by pilots during World War I.[11] In the 1960s, ugg boots became a popular option for competitive surfers,[10] who used the boots to keep their feet warm after exiting from the surf.[12] Frank Mortel of Mortels Sheepskin Factory claims he named them "ugg boots" in 1958, when Mortels started production, after his wife commented that the first pair he made were "ugly."[13][14][15][16] The 1970s saw the emergence of advertising using the names.[1] In 1971, manufacturer Shane Stedman registered the name "UGH-BOOTS" as a trademark in Australia and began selling ugg boots under that name. In 1982 he registered the name "UGH" and a logo containing a stylised Sun with the words "UGG AUSTRALIA".[2]

Surfing helped popularise the boots outside Australia and New Zealand. In the early 1970s, British surfers who purchased the boots in Australia introduced ugg boots into England and in 1973 Hide & Feet in Newquay, Cornwall began making ugg boots for the local market. Due to increasing popularity and sales, in 1991 the company changed its name to The Original Ugg Co and registered the name "UGG" as a UK trademark.

By the mid-1970s, several surf shops in Santa Cruz, California and the San Fernando Valley were selling a limited number of ugg boots purchased by the shops' owners while visiting surfing events in Australia. In 1978, a Western Australian manufacturer of ugg boots, Country Leather, advertised outside Australia for distributors to sell its boots. Seeing the popularity of the boots among American surfers, Australian surfer Brian Smith, then living in Santa Monica, California, and Doug Jensen applied to be their United States distributors. Family friends invested $20,000 into the new venture and the group set up Ugg Imports. Due to other business commitments, in 1979 Jenson handed over his share of the company to Smith. In 1987 Smith registered Ugg Holdings Inc and in 1985 registered a US trademark on a rams head logo with the words "Original UGG Boot UGG Australia and in 1995 purchased Stedman's various trademarks. As for the trademark, Smith stated: "We always called them uggs, long before it was a trademarked brand."

By 1994, ugg boots had achieved cult status among surfers in California with 80% of sales in southern Orange County where Ugg Holdings saw an increase in sales of 60% on the previous season. 1994 also saw the word Ugg added to dictionaries as a name for "sheepskin boots". Smith's Ugg boots later gained international exposure when they were worn by the U.S. Olympic team in Lillehammer for the 1994 Winter Olympics. Australian manufacturers also saw an increase in exports of ugg boots to the United States although Ugg Holdings retained an estimated 80 percent market share. By the end of the year Country Leather had opened its own shop in Redondo Beach to promote an expansion of the brand from its established surf market into mainstream footwear sales. In early 1995, Smith promoted the UGG AUSTRALIA brand on the Rush Limbaugh show which spurred sales while the brand gained further exposure by the San Diego Chargers wearing them. According to retailers, it was not just the footwear that attracted consumers, but the "made in Australia" tie-in as uggs were a unique product only available from Australia and Australian products were at that time very popular.[9][17] In August 1995, Smith sold Ugg Holdings to Deckers Outdoor Corporation for $14.6 million.[18] Deckers licensed the use of the British UGG trademark from The Original Ugg Co. in 1996 and eventually purchased it in 1999 at which time Deckers registered the various trademarks for "UGG" in the US.[2][19]

Generally worn for warmth and comfort, ugg boots had never been considered fashionable in their country of origin,[20] but in 2001 sheepskin boots emerged as a fashion trend in the US through Deckers' promotions of the UGG brand, with celebrities such as Kate Hudson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lopez wearing the boots,[21][22][23][24] and with Oprah Winfrey featuring UGG brand boots as one of her "Favorite Things" on her TV talk show.[25] Deckers' actions to promote their product "led to an exponential growth in the brand's popularity and recognizability."[26] The company reported US$689 million in UGG sales in 2008,[27] almost a 50-fold increase from 1995.[28] By way of contrast, ugg boots in Australia were worn predominantly as slippers and associated with "daggy fashion sense, bogan behaviour" and the "outer suburbs" when worn in public.[29][30][31][32][33][34]

Design

Fashion ugg boots

Ugg boots are made from sheepskins with fleece attached. The fleece is tanned into the leather and the boot is assembled with the fleece on the inside. Some ugg boots have a synthetic sole, commonly made from Ethylene-vinyl acetate (or EVA). The stitching is often prominent on the outside of the boot. The natural insulative properties of sheepskin gives thermostatic properties to the boots: the thick fleecy fibres on the inner part of the boots wick moisture and allow air to circulate, keeping the feet at body temperature[35] and allowing the boots to keep feet warm in cold weather and cool in hot weather.[36] The original design was a pull-on boot in natural (undyed) tan sheepskin, about 10 inches (25 cm) in height, with rounded, almost shapeless uppers; this is now described as the "classic" design. Produced by a number of manufacturers, they come in a variety of colours, including black, pink, blue, chestnut, and fuchsia.[37] They are available in both pull-on and lace-up varieties and their height can range from just above the ankle to above the knee.[37]

Some variations of ugg style boots have also been made from kangaroo fur and leather.[38] There are also synthetic boots. Although derided as "fake" by some in the industry,[39] their lower price made them appealing to large retail chains such as Myer.[40]

Criticism

Being one of many clothing products made from animal skin, the production of ugg boots has been the subject of criticism by the animal liberation movement.[41] In the decade beginning in 2000, the group called for the boycott of ugg boots and their replacement with alternatives not made from animal skin.

In 2007, Pamela Anderson, realising that ugg boots were made of skin, wrote on her website: "I thought they were shaved kindly? People like to tell me all the time that I started that trend – yikes! Well let's start a new one – do NOT buy Uggs! Buy Stella McCartney or juicy boots."[42] In February 2008, the Princeton Animal Welfare Society staged a campus protest against the fur industry, particularly attacking the ugg boot industry. "Students lay in the newly fallen snow on the Frist Campus Center's North Front Lawn on Friday afternoon, feigning death, wearing coats covered with fake blood and sporting signs that read, 'What if you were killed for your coat?' "[43] In fact, similar to the sourcing of leather, the sheep-skin is a by-product of processing sheep for human consumption, sheep are not killed for their skins.[44]

In 2009 American podiatrist Ed Chairman raised concern that the regular wearing of ugg boots could be deleterious to foot health due to the lack of arch support.[45]

Trademark disputes

Main article: Ugg boots trademark disputes

The UGG trademark has been, and continues to be, the subject of dispute in several countries. The trademark for ugh, ugg and ug boots has been removed from the trademark registry in Australia for non-use.[4] Outside Australia and New Zealand, UGG (written in capital letters) is a registered trademark of Deckers Outdoor Corporation.[26]

In 1999, Deckers registered the trademarks for "UGG" in the US.[2][19] Deckers began asserting its new trademark and sent out cease and desist letters to Australian manufacturers.[4] By the early 2000s, demand for ugg boots was soaring with Australian and USA based manufacturers selling uggs over the Internet. Deckers' law firm Middletons of Melbourne began a serious effort to halt the Australian companies' sales[4] by sending cease and desist letters to a number of Australian and USA based manufacturers, preventing them from selling uggs on eBay or from using the word in domain names.[46]

In response to these actions by Deckers, some Australian manufacturers formed the Australian Sheepskin Association to fight the corporation's claim, arguing that "ugg" is a generic term referring to flat-heeled, pull-on sheepskin boots. One of these manufacturers, Perth's Uggs-N-Rugs, who had been manufacturing uggs since 1978 and selling them online since 1996, appealed to Australian trademark regulators.[4] The officer who heard the case stated that the "evidence overwhelmingly supports the proposition that the terms (ugg, ugh and ug boots) are interchangeably used to describe a specific style of sheepskin boot and are the first and most natural way in which to describe these goods." In 2006 Uggs-N-Rugs won the right to use the term UGG BOOT/S and variations such as UGH BOOT/S.[4] Deckers retained the rights to their UGG logo as trade mark protection only applies for the way the mark appears in its entirety and not for the words it contains. IP Australia also ruled that the trademark "UGH-boots" (with hyphen) should be removed from the trademark register for non-use as Deckers had only been using the UGG logo, not the UGH marks.[2][4]

The 2006 ruling only applies in Australia and Deckers still owns the trademarks in other jurisdictions such as the US, China, Japan and the European Union where they have successfully defended challenges to their mark.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Thompson, Ian (16 January 2006). "Decision of a Delegate of the Registrar of Trade Marks with Reasons" (PDF). IP Australia. Retrieved 17 November 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e The battle of the UGG BOOT continues Hynes Lawyers 11 February 2011
  3. ^ Trade Marks Hearings 16 January 2006. Decision of a delegate of the registrar of trade marks with reasons. Pg 10
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Marks, Kathy (18 January 2006). "Ugg: How a minnow put the boot into a fashion giant". The Independent. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
  5. ^ Website of Walker Morris UK solicitors firm, Leeds. "Legal Briefing from the Trade Marks and Designs Group, 3 October 2011."
  6. ^ a b Terry, Andrew; Forrest, Heather (2008). "Where's the Beef? Why Burger King Is Hungry Jack's in Australia and Other Complications in Building a Global Franchise Brand". Northwestern Journal of International Law and Business, 2008. 28 (2): 188. ISSN 0196-3228.
  7. ^ Gee, Steve (23 January 2004). "Uggly Americans — The Yanks steal another one of our beaut ideas". Daily Telegraph. Sydney, Australia. p. 7.
  8. ^ "What's in a name?". Central Coast Express. Sydney, Australia. 9 March 2004. p. 20.
  9. ^ a b McAllister, Robert The Aussie invasion. Australian footwear manufacturers export to the U.S. Footwear News. Condé Nast Publications 6 February 1995. HighBeam Research accessed 6 May 2012
  10. ^ a b Burgess, Dave (12 July 2008). "An ugg boot is an ug boot is an ugh boot". The Dominion Post. Wellington, New Zealand. p. A17.
  11. ^ "What's in a name?". Central Coast Express. 9 March 2004. p. 20.
  12. ^ Marks, Kathy (17 February 2004). "There's no business like shoe business". The Independent. London, United Kingdom. Retrieved 17 November 2009.
  13. ^ Hansard transcript House Of Representatives 17 February 2004
  14. ^ Ugg boots ABC Radio
  15. ^ Marks, Kathy (17 February 2004). "There's no business like shoe business". The Independent. London, United Kingdom. Retrieved 17 November 2009. "We called them Uggs from the start," he says. "Although I recall other names such as 'woolly hoppers'."
  16. ^ Marks, Kathy (19 January 2006). "These boots are made for litigation". The New Zealand Herald. Auckland, New Zealand. p. 33. Retrieved 18 November 2009.
  17. ^ Foster, Caryl Ugg's going mainstream with slimmer boots (includes related article). Footwear News. Condé Nast Publications 14 February 1994. HighBeam Research. accessed 6 May 2012
  18. ^ Brian Smith, Founder UGG Holdings, Inc. Los Angeles Magazine 1 October 2001
  19. ^ a b Fink, Karl V.; Johnson, Carolyn M.; Miranda, David P. (5 February 2004), "UGG Holdings, Inc. and Deckers Outdoor Corporation v. Paul Barclay d/b/a Australian Made Goods", National Arbitration Forum, Retrieved 25 August 2010
  20. ^ Conley, Lucas (9 September 2010). "The Golden Fleece". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
  21. ^ Brown, Suzanne S. (21 December 2003). "Ooh, so comfy, but ugh! so hard to find". Chicago Tribune. p. 7B.
  22. ^ Grant, Sarah (28 February 2007). "Pammy puts the boot into her uggs". Daily Telegraph. Sydney, Australia. p. 3.
  23. ^ Smith, Julia Llewellyn (29 February 2004). "From Ugg to uglier". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
  24. ^ http://www.bromley-group.com/footwear.html
  25. ^ http://www.thedailywestport.com/neighbors/ubiquitous-uggs-stand-tall-wish-lists
  26. ^ a b Walter, John F. (25 February 2003), UGG Holdings, Inc. -v- Clifford Severen et al, United States District Court
  27. ^ Abkowitz, Alyssa (19 August 2009). "Deckers finds its footing with Uggs". Fortune Magazine. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
  28. ^ "Deckers Outdoor completes acquisition of UGG Holdings (Press release)". Business Wire. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
  29. ^ The boganvillea is flowering and the hats are on the Kat The Age 23 June 2011
  30. ^ Living east of Boganville? Madrigal Communications 27 October 2011
  31. ^ Ugg boots in public? Nova 31 July 2010
  32. ^ Definition of bogan Urban Dictionary
  33. ^ Albion Park: home of the giant ugg boot? Illawarra Mercury 5 September 2009
  34. ^ The uggly side of life The Age 27 September 2006
  35. ^ Grant, Lorrie (10 December 2003). "UGG boots a fashion kick". USA Today. Retrieved 17 November 2009.
  36. ^ Julie Neigher (20 December 2009). "It looks like Ugg love". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
  37. ^ a b Plant, Simon (22 February 2007). "Shake your booty". Herald Sun. Melbourne, Australia. p. W22.
  38. ^ "Kangaroo Tipped Ugg Boots". Eagle Wools. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
  39. ^ "Fake Ugg Boots". Australian Sheepskin Association Inc. Retrieved 17 November 2009.
  40. ^ Needham, Kirsty (13 March 2004). "Putting the boot in". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, Australia. p. 33. Retrieved 17 November 2009.
  41. ^ The Truth About Ugg Boots: History, Controversy & Who Wears Them Whygo Australia 5 August 2010
  42. ^ "Pamela Anderson Learns Ugg Boots Made From Sheepskin, Speaks Out Against Them". Fox News. 28 February 2007. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  43. ^ ""PAWS takes aim at Ugg boots". Daily Princetonian. 25 February 2008.
  44. ^ Clothing Animal Equality
  45. ^ McDermott, Kathie (22 February 2009). "Are UGGs Bad for You?". NBC Chicago. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
  46. ^ Arnold, James (19 February 2004). "Aussie boot battle takes an Uggly turn". BBC News. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
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