UGG

UGG

Brian Smith, an Australian surfer studying business at UCLA, founded Ugg Imports in Santa Monica in 1978 with Doug Jensen, betting that the sheepskin boots Australians wore after cold surf sessions could find an American market. The company sold just 28 pairs its first season, and Smith kept building the brand himself, including selling boots out of the back of his van at Malibu, before selling it to Deckers Outdoor Corporation in 1995.

Collage of shoes styled with city, runway and evening outfits that capture the UGG mood

Boots, flats, slippers and clogs

The Classic Boot is still the reference point for everything UGG makes, a twin-faced sheepskin design that Brian Smith built the entire company around after noticing Southern California surfers had no equivalent to what he grew up wearing in Australia. Early retailers turned him down more than a hundred times before the idea caught on. What's shown here traces directly back to that original silhouette. The Tazzelle Boots add a platform to the shearling bootie, and the Goldenstar Villa and Goldenstar Evelina clogs show the brand beyond boots. These are the UGGs I would start with.

Uggs collage: UGG

Classics, slippers, flats and clogs

The wider range, from boots to sandals

A second wall of shoes shows how far the brand has stretched a single founding idea, warm sheepskin footwear, into a much broader range since Deckers Outdoor Corporation acquired it in 1995. The company Smith started with a modest investment from family friends is now a global name, but the throughline is still comfort over anything else. These pairs reflect that expansion. The Willy Chavarria collaboration pieces and the Western boots are the bold end of the range, while the Tasman Spotted, Elea Fluffed and Tasman Maxi Curly slippers and the Uptowner Mules are the soft, cozy ones.

Collabs, Western styles and the wider range

Why the sheepskin story holds up

UGG's origin story is a genuinely scrappy one, a surfer selling boots from a van at Malibu after being rejected by shop after shop, and that persistence is arguably a better story than the brand's more recent celebrity-driven fame. It's strongest when it leans into the sheepskin comfort premise Smith actually built the company on rather than treating itself as a general lifestyle label. This edit is a solid entry point for people who want the classics first. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Ugg Boots Dupe and UGG Boots.