The Ugg boot certainly has its origins in rural Australia as a functional footwear design. This is a far cry from the current fashion footwear that is available on the high streets of major cities around the world. Here you will learn about the origin of Ugg boots and how they got their name.

Australia is known the world over for producing the finest sheep wool and is a nation literally built on the back of the sheep. Australia is the world’s largest producer of wool, producing around a quarter of the world’s wool output at the time of writing. In the 1930s, wool accounted for around 70% of Australia’s primary product exports, and in the same decade the Ugg boot began to be manufactured.

The origins of the humble Ugg boots are not so clear. It is assumed that since they began to be manufactured in the 1930s, they must have been created in the 1920s out of a basic human need. That was clearly a need for warmer feet in the cold winters of South Australia. With the export of wool making Australia a prosperous country, it’s just all too obvious that this sheepskin boot arose from the combination of an abundant supply of fur and fleece and cold winters.

Then and now, authentic Ugg boots are described as “a boot made of two-sided sheepskin with fleece in the middle.” It also seems pretty obvious to assume that since the design was probably put together by a couple of cold-footed farmers in rural Australia, the early designs were quite ugly. So, as an Australian, it seems pretty obvious that ‘Ugg’ is just plain ugly in slang, giving the shoe its well-known modern name.

The shoe began its rise to worldwide recognition in the 1960s when another group of men with cold feet chose them for their functionality. This group of men were competitive surfers and the vehicle for transforming these boots from warm, functional footwear into a globally recognized fashion statement.

The design was now in the sights of marketing companies around the world as a new product for the market. Through heavy promotion in the 1990s and 2000s with US celebrities, Ugg boots became known to all fashion-conscious women in the US and Europe.

From its humble beginnings in the Australian outback to the high streets of the world’s major cities. Ugg boots are surely here to stay!