With winter fast approaching in Australia, there remains some confusion about the iconic product that is UGG boots – namely, who makes them, are they all the same, and why are there so many different stores and websites selling them?

Think of it like this: UGG in Australia is a generic word for a sheepskin boot. The word UGG actually appears in our Australian dictionary, and it refers to a sheepskin boot. UGG is therefore just another type of footwear, like sneakers, or sandals. Sneakers of course, are sold by many different companies, and no one exclusively owns the right within Australian to sell sneakers. You could buy them from thousands of stores in Australia. So too are UGG boots, which means there are hundreds of places (including stores and websites) where you can purchase a sheepskin boot, or as they’re known here in Australia, an UGG boot.  Each brand is completely different to the next.

Some UGG boots are high quality, some are made from cheap synthetic material. A select few UGG boots are made in Australia, most are made offshore in places like China, Vietnam and the Philippines. Some UGG boots will last you a lifetime, others will need to be replaced before the winter is out. And perhaps the most confusing part – no matter the quality, price, origins, or company selling them, they’ll all be called UGG boots.

This is where it becomes so important to choose the correct company to buy your UGG boots from.  Just because a product is called an UGG boot, and just because you’re buying it from a website with “UGG” appearing somewhere in the URL, you’re not guaranteed to be buying a high quality, genuine Australian made UGG boot as they were originally intended to be.

The situation is similar to say, buying a croissant in Australia. A croissant, renowned for being a French pastry, is now famous the world over, and would be available from any number of bakeries in your local suburb this morning. No singular company owns the rights to making or selling a croissant. Depending on which bakery you visited, you could pay $2 for a croissant, or you could pay $6. You could buy a fresh, light, flaky croissant fresh out of the oven, or you could buy a dense, heavy croissant that was defrosted yesterday. They would all be “croissants”, but they would all be vastly difference in their quality, price and origins. The same is the case for UGG boots.    

Our company, UGG Since 1974, is one of the last remaining companies you can purchase Australian made UGG boots from. Each and every pair of our UGG boots are handmade at our workshop on the Gold Coast, Australia, from premium quality Australian sheepskin. Our UGG boots are exclusively available from our website uggsince1974.com.au, and our retail store at 23 Christine Avenue, Miami, and 104 George Street, The Rocks. If you are looking elsewhere to purchase your UGG boots, they are not our brand and have not been made by our company. Many people assume that the UGG boots they have purchased from popular retailers in Australia, like David Jones, The Iconic, and Target, are our Australian made UGG boots. This is not the case – as our UGG boots are only available from our own website and stores.

However, outside of Australia, the situation is quite different. Outside of Australia, UGG has been trademarked by another company, and therefore when shopping in stores overseas, you can only purchase UGG boots from this particular company (this brand is discernible by a "big G" in the middle of their logo). This company is an American company, publicly listed on the Stock Exchange (known as Deckers Outdoor Corporation), and this company does not manufacture any of its UGG boots in Australia, but rather, imports them all from places like China, Vietnam and the Philippines. This brand of UGG boots is available in Australia as well – and is the brand that many big retailers like The Iconic and David Jones choose to stock, even though they are not Australian made.  You can read more about the differences between this brand and our company, UGG Since 1974, in our blog post here.

As Deckers Outdoor Corporation has the trademark to the word UGG in most countries outside of Australia, it means that genuine Australian manufacturers of UGG boots (like UGG Since 1974) are unable to expand outside Australia under the name UGG, as this would be a breach of this American owned company’s intellectual property. The situation sounds quite unbelievable, given this company has no manufacturing presence, nor ownership within Australia, but has the exclusive right to our iconic Australian innovation “UGG”, in most countries around the world. Unfortunately, many people based overseas assume the UGG boots they are buying Australian made, but this is often not the case.

So there you have it: why are there so many brands of UGGs? Within Australia, UGG is a generic term for a sheepskin boot, meaning there are lots of companies with some derivative of UGG in their business name. When shopping for UGG boots this winter, consider what is important to you in a boot. If you’re looking for an UGG boot of the best quality, and entirely made in Australia, then we can certainly help you with that here at UGG Since 1974.