UGG (formerly UGG Australia) is an American footwear company and a division of Deckers Brands.

UGG was founded in California in 1978 by Australian surfer Brian Smith and Doug Jensen. Smith was living in Santa Monica, California after studying at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. Smith and Jensen first applied to be the United States distributors for the Western Australian sheepskin boot manufacturer, Country Leather. Unhappy with the brand, Smith trademarked UGG. Later, family friends invested $20,000 into the venture and the group set up Ugg Imports. In their first season in business, Ugg Imports sold 28 pairs of boots. Due to other business commitments, in 1979 Jensen handed over his share of the company to Smith. Sales steadily grew and Smith set up Ugg Holdings Inc. and in 1985 registered a US trademark on a rams head logo with the words “Original UGG Boot UGG Australia”. By 1994, 80 percent of UGG’s sales were in southern Orange County, but the company gained international attention after the boots were worn by the U.S. Olympic team in Lillehammer for the 1994 Winter Olympics.

In 1995, Deckers Brands acquired Smith’s business for $14.6 million and continued to expand it. During the late 1990s, UGG began experiencing double-digit sales growth as Deckers developed the company into an international brand. In 2003, UGG boots were included on Oprah Winfrey’s show as part of “Oprah’s Favorite Things.” Afterwards, the brand received an unprecedented surge in sales. In 2006, UGG opened its first brick and mortar store in New York’s SoHo neighbourhood. The company opened its first international store in Japan later that same year.

UGG partnered with designer shoe brand Jimmy Choo in 2009 to launch a capsule collection combining the brands’ styles. The following year, UGG debuted a collection of boots designed in collaboration with Swarovski. The company launched its first men’s advertising campaign in 2011 featuring New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in 2011. The first UGG for Men stand-alone store opened in New York in 2012. UGG reported over $1 billion (U.S) in sales for 2012. UGG products are manufactured in a number of countries, primarily China. Deckers uses two Chinese tanneries to supply the sheepskin. The tanneries in turn source the raw skins from Australia and the United Kingdom.

Its collection of home goods launched in 2013 and included products such as rugs, blankets, pillows and other home pieces. In June 2015, Ugg has announced a collaboration with Pixar. The company launched a capsule collection reflecting Pixar’s film Inside Out, and have produced Disney-themed boots featuring Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Tinker Bell.

In 2016, Deckers rebranded to “UGG”, instead of “UGG Australia”, in response to an investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission because of a complaint that the reference to “Australia”, in its branding of sheepskin boots manufactured in China and Vietnam, was misleading and deceptive, and therefore in breach of Australia’s consumer protection and fair competition laws. Deckers now refers to the UGG brand as “Californian” rather than “Australian”.