We’re Living In a New Era of UGG Boot
LA is the land of UGG. And not just because it’s the place where the shearling shoe brand was founded.
The UGG-wearing population of LA is higher than I’ve seen anywhere else. And it's a varied bunch, including, unlike in years gone by, men. Unequivocally fashionable men.
For example, a staff member at KITH's Malibu outpost was wearing a brown pair of the cozy boots (and he was kind enough to compliment my camo-print pair).
Meanwhile, I spotted LA-based designer Reese Cooper wearing a pair of the fluff-filled shoes, his ones had been beaten to the ground, the effects of the city’s Downtown area, he says.
And then there’s Josué Thomas, founder of the LA-based brand and regular UGG collaborator Gallery Dept., who says UGGs are part of his daily studio uniform — “In my opinion, they are essential,” he tells me. “They should be in everyone's closet alongside other timeless icons.”
Now, the shearling-lined boots have been fashionable before — you recognize the name because of Pamela Anderson shepherding in the trend during the ‘80s and pop-culture moments like Carrie Bradshaw wearing a custom red pair in Sex and The City — and they have been mainstream (seen as tacky or basic) but never have they been a menswear phenomenon.
The big fluffy boot has crossed the gender line. It’s made a carefully orchestrated entrance into the wardrobes of men everywhere.
“We appeal to all kinds of different demographics. We appeal to 17-year-old high school basketball players. We appeal to some very, very high-up fashionable people,” UGG’s Brand President, Anne Spangenberg, tells me at a pop-up store the brand is hosting in its hometown.
“We've expanded from being more of a winter brand and, in years past, more for women to a brand that is for everyone and relevant year-round. I think that has helped us to continue to grow and be relevant.”
Certainly, the brand is relevant right now. It’s popping up on the runways of new-generation fashion talent — Collina Strada, Magliano, KNWLS, Saul Nash, Ahluwalia, Martine Rose; I could go on — which the label actively seeks to support. And it’s simultaneously delivering products for streetwear’s notoriously male-heavy audience, Palace recently expanded its UGG collaboration to include clothing while STAMPD and Madhappy have continued, multi-season collaborations.
What’s impressive about these releases isn’t the status of the collaborators alone but the breadth of products they create. From spikey slippers to huge hybrid cowboy boots, it’s clear that the creative reigns are given to the creatives that UGG selects: “We think about our products as almost a blank canvas which can be reimagined by our partners,” says Carole Diarra, VP of Global Marketing for UGG. “The goal is to create something that is special which only that partnership can create.”
This is not entirely new, weird and wonderful UGGs have walked the runway in years gone by: Y/Project did it in 2018, as did Jeremy Scott in 2017… but now it’s cutting through like never before. To the extent that high fashion labels aren’t only collaborating with UGG, they’re blatantly ripping the brand off. Balenciaga's Alaska Boot is basically an UGG boot with an exaggerated shape, Acne Studio has a denim-printed pair (much like the latest Gallery Dept. x UGG collab), and ERL’s super fluffy shearling boot looks very familiar.
Growing up, fake UGGs — or, FUGGs — were found on market stalls for around $20. Today, UGG dupes are considered fashion with a capital F and fetch four-figure price tags. How times change.
Part of this is thanks to an orchestrated masterplan played out by UGG high-ups: carefully curated collaborators, pushing out experimental, headline-worthy products, getting the right influencers to wear their products, expanding its menswear selection which Spangenberg tells me they want to grow to cover 50% of UGGs output… it’s all very clever, very calculated stuff. But some of its biggest moments have been entirely organic.
The brand couldn’t have known that Bella Hadid would go viral wearing its platform boots (sparking a worldwide trend), or that its protective slip-on soles would become sneakerhead grails, or that Post Malone would become obsessed with them.
“Post Malone has worn our product for a long time and a year ago we made him some camo boots for the Super Bowl which he wore to death,” says Spangenberg. From there, a partnership was born.
He’s the star of UGGs newest campaign and has curated the “Feel House” room which myself and the two UGG executives, Spangenberg and Diarra, sit in. He would also perform here later in the night and there’s no points for guessing what he wore on-foot.
Honestly, who can blame Posty for wearing his UGGs till they are battered and bruised, if nothing else, the fluffy-lined things are undeniably comfy. Now far away from the UGG metropolis that is LA and back in Berlin, I’ve found myself reaching for them regularly in the glum winter weather too — and my feet are happier (and warmer) for it.
