Ugg’s founder, Australian surfer Shane Steadman, sold his company to Deckers Outdoor Corp. of California in 1995. In Australia, the boots were viewed with disdain, associated with lower-class youth known as “bogans.”
Deckers, however, pursued a worldwide marketing strategy of product placement and endorsements from celebrities like Kate Hudson and Oprah Winfrey.
By 2010, all of the Australian manufacturers combined added up to only 5.9 percent of Deckers sales for Ugg boots alone. Deckers has aggressively expanded Steadman’s trademark portfolio, registering “Uggs” or “Ugg-boots” trademarks in 145 countries. That’s up from the 10 countries that Steadman was selling in.
No industry has been more demonized for exporting jobs than the footwear industry. In 1978, about 50 percent of shoes and boots bought in the United States were manufactured here; less than one percent came from China. By 2006, 85 percent of the shoes sold in this country were made in China, with domestic production making up only 1.3 percent of all footwear purchased in the United States.
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