Ugg boots are a type of sheepskin boot originating from Australia.
1950's - 1960's Ugg becomes a common term around Australian for sheep skin boots.
1960's John Arnold is a world-famous surfer / businessman who set up the Golden Breed brand in South Australia in the 1960’s. He was also exporting very large volumes of ugg boots to the US from the late 1960’s through to 1980. He used to use ugg boots as packing material to protect the surfboards he was exporting from getting damaged in transit. John Arnold was exporting ugg boots to the US for more than 10 years prior to Brian Smith first selling ugg boots in the US and for almost 20 years before Brian Smith registered the first footwear related trademark containing the word “ugg” in the US.
1960's Robert Hayter used to operate a business called AusFurs which started to manufacture ugg boots in the late 1960’s. Robert was also one of the people most responsible for developing the design of the ugg boot into its current form.
1960's+ Corky Carroll is considered the first ever professional surfer. He won a number of world surfing championships and was a household name in the US in the 1960’s and 1970’s. He also worked for various publications as an advertising executive and later as a journalist and musician. Corky came to Australia in 1970 and discovered the ugg boot. When he returned to the US in the early 1970s he brought a test consignment of ugg boots and attempted to sell them to fellow surfers.
1972 O'Neill Surf Shop in Santa Cruz, California, USA publishes advert for "UGG BOOTS from AUSTRALIA" in the Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper - 08 Dec 1972 (Page 8)
1970's Roger Bosley ran Comfort Plus which was one of the largest ugg boot manufacturers in Australia the 1970’s and 1980’s. Comfort Plus was based in South Australia. After exploring opportunities to export ugg boots to the US in the late 1970’s, Roger decided to open up four retail stores in California to sell a range of sheepskin products, including ugg boots. He operated these four stores from 1982 – 1984 and sold large volumes of ugg boots to US consumers.
1981 Luda begins manufacturing ugg boots.
1982 Luda begins begins selling its boots with woven heel counters featuring the "UGG AUSTRALIA" mark.
1983 LeatherLife set up a stall at the 1983 America's Cup Race at Rhode Island to showcase and sell ugg boots.
1984 Luda was incorporated at which time Luda had attempted to trademark its "UGG AUSTRALIA" logo, however it was told by the Trade Mark Office it count not proceed as it was "descriptive" and was therefore not registerable.
1985 Brian Smith, an expatriate Australian, applied for a trademark for STYLIZED TRADEMARK for his 'UGG' logo in the USA. (View Trademark)
1991 Koolaburra is established.
1993 The first main stream internet search engines begin to come together.
1995 USA multi-national Deckers Brands acquired Brian Smith's ugg boots company. Ever since they have been attacking Australian manufacturers, retails, and marketers who use the term 'ugg'. Deckers marketed their products as Australian even though they're made in China and Vietnam.
1998 Deckers opens law suit against ugg company "Koolaburra" for selling boots labeled 'ugg'.
1904 Deckers opens law suit against ugg company "Mortels Sheepskin Factory" for selling boots labeled 'ugg'.
2010 Deckers opens law suit against Australian ugg company "Emu Australia" for selling boots labeled 'Australian Ug Boots'. Deckers wins.
2015 Deckers acquires Koolaburra.
2016 Deckers removes mention of the word Australia from all branding after pressure from the Australian government for misleading advertising.
2017 Deckers corporation commenced legal proceedings against Australian Leather Pty Ltd (AL) in March 2017 in the District Court in Illinois for selling $2,000 AUD of ugg boots in the previous 5 years, of which $900 AUD were trap sales by deckers agents.
Our mission is to protect and develop Australian ugg product manufacturers.
We will:
"Ugg" is a generic Australian name for sheepskin products, particularly boots.
The name "ugg" is often considered to have originated between the thirties and the late fifties. It's often said that some shearers who often also ate sheep and kept the skins used the skins as both mats and wrapped and tied them around their feet. The skin of the sheep was good at holding traction and the wool warm. Some of these shearers were also surfers who found these to be great at drying off the feet and keeping them warm after leaving the water.
Surfers tended to travel around Australia visiting many beaches, at the same time spreading the popular concept and name around the country.
This perhaps nameless footwear style was pretty ugly and for that reason became is uglies or uggs.
Frank Mortel claims the he named his company's boots "ugg boots" in 1985 after his wife told him his first pair were really ugly.
Regardless of the first original source, the word ugg is a generic term for sheepskin boots and products. An iconic part of Australian culture and history.
It's a generic word in Australia, so it shouldn't be trademarkable as a word. Just like:
Just like Fetta is Greek, Champaign is French, Ferrari is Italian
Notes:
(1) illegitimate by opinion of the Australian people