Christian Allaire

Vogue

n September last year, Bella Hadid was spotted in the streets of New York City wearing a bold outfit that instantly had the internet talking. Rather than her sleek leather racing jacket, it was her outfit’s bottom half that made a real statement. Hadid forwent pants in favor of white men’s underwear, before styling them with a pair of classic mini platform Ugg boots: a reworked version of Ugg’s classic boot featuring a new, hefty two-inch outsole.

The “no pants” look is a discussion for another day—but when Hadid wore the chunky Ugg boots (which were released last year), it ignited a whole new fashion movement. Hadid’s look quickly went viral on TikTok, while Lyst reports that the style promptly sold out and had a 152% increase in searches. Fellow street style stars like Emily Ratajkowski and Gigi Hadid soon started wearing them too. Suddenly, the Ugg mini platform became fashion’s hottest new shoe, going for as much as double the $150 retail price on resale sites such as StockX. Good luck finding your size in the classic black or chestnut colorways, even today—they’re still all but impossible to get your hands on. For Helene Frain, Ugg’s vice president of footwear design, this craze for Ugg boots has been totally exciting to watch unfold. “Anytime you see somebody in the streets wearing your product, it’s a really good feeling,” she says.

It’s not the first time Ugg has produced a shoe that everyone is dying to have, however. Having reached peak notoriety in the 2000s, the renewed interest in Ugg boots is more of a comeback story than a star-is-born one.

The label was first founded in California back in 1978, by the Australian surfer Brian Smith, who wanted to create a shoe out of his favorite material, sheepskin. He went on to create its classic Ugg, a shearling-lined boot that was built around the idea of extreme comfort, and by the ’80s, the plushy style became synonymous with SoCal beach culture—especially as it started becoming a popular item carried throughout the state’s surf shops. Even then, however, Frain says there were Ugg-boot skeptics. “The Ugg boot was really perceived to be weird at first,” says Frain. “The shape is out of the ordinary. But when you start to connect with it, it sneaks up on you; people realized it’s beautiful and bold.”

After being purchased by Deckers Brands in 1995, Ugg continued its incline toward mainstream fame. It experienced a new surge in sales in 2000 after Oprah Winfrey featured the classic Ugg boot on her famous favorite-things list, quickly going on to become a celebrity staple worn by stars such as Paris Hilton, Beyoncé, and Kate Moss—all of whom styled it with their best Juicy Couture sweats or low-rise jeans. “[The Y2K era] really put the brand on the map from a fashion standpoint,” says Frain. But like all things in fashion, the appetite for Ugg boots fizzled out—and by the 2010s, they became passé. “Ten years ago, the boot was not associated with coolness, and it was a shame, because that boot is a piece of design heritage,” says Frain. That’s precisely what propelled Frain and her design team to create the new viral mini and platform boots: They wanted to put Ugg back on the fashion map, and remind consumers why they fell in love with the shoes in the first place. “We wanted to celebrate our icon,” she says.

Still, it’s not easy to launch a product and make the world embrace it—especially a shoe that has been a worldwide phenomenon once before. For Frain, who has overseen Ugg’s footwear design for over six years now, the concept began with her design team taking a look at the classic Ugg and envisioning how they could modernize it. “It really started with the silhouette,” says Frain. “When you have a wonderful icon like that, you can do so many crazy things to it; the team came up with really amazing, creative ideas to celebrate that.” Shortening the length of the cut and adding a thick platform to it felt fresh and like the perfect way to bring the Ugg into the present moment. “These things just made sense to us,” says Frain. “A lot of what we do is about the feeling that we want to give consumers. A platform gives confidence; it gives you a stance in the world. It’s going to make you stand out and feel super confident.”

When a brand is having such a successful and covetable moment, there are concerns that the momentum could abruptly come to a halt. While ugly-chic shoes such as Crocs or Salomons are all the rage in fashion currently, that won’t necessarily be the case next season. Yet Frain and the Ugg design team are unconcerned about Uggs becoming a fad; in fact, they don’t consider themselves to be a part of the ugly-chic trend at all. “We understand that the ‘ugly chic’ shoe trend is popular and prevalent, but we’re not that,” says Frain. “What we’re doing is quite beautiful, thoughtful, and made with a lot of care. Our consumer’s connection to the brand is really about authenticity—not irony.”

The Ugg design team has continued to push the envelope of what an Ugg boot can look like with its buzzy fashion collaborations, which have played an integral role in upping Ugg’s cool factor. This past year, for instance, the footwear label has partnered with designers such as Telfar Clemens and Shayne Oliver on subversive new Ugg boot styles; Telfar created logo boots, and Oliver did a padded, futuristic Armourite boot. This week, Ugg also debuts its latest collaboration with the skate brand Palace, which sees the classic Ugg boot covered in a lightning bolt print. Frain says you can expect many more of these partnerships to come. “Collaborations are incredibly important for the future,” says Frain. “They provide a way to look at the brand in a completely fresh and different way.” As a result, “it feels like this perception of what the brand is is shifting,” says Frain. “People are finally seeing the brand’s potential.”

Of course, when a brand is having such a successful and covetable moment, there are concerns that the momentum could abruptly come to a halt. While ugly-chic shoes such as Crocs or Salomons are all the rage in fashion currently, that won’t necessarily be the case next season. Yet Frain and the Ugg design team are unconcerned about Uggs becoming a fad; in fact, they don’t consider themselves to be a part of the ugly-chic trend at all. “We understand that the ‘ugly chic’ shoe trend is popular and prevalent, but we’re not that,” says Frain. “What we’re doing is quite beautiful, thoughtful, and made with a lot of care. Our consumer’s connection to the brand is really about authenticity—not irony. There’s a very big distinction between being ironic and being who you are and not being apologetic.”

To counteract becoming another kitschy, fleeting shoe trend, Ugg has also ventured outside of its traditional footwear territory. Going forward, Ugg plans to keep the excitement around the brand going through its handbag and clothing categories. (Telfar did mini shearling Ugg bags, while designer Feng Chen Wang collaborated on shearling Ugg jackets.) “Our future holds more categories, and we want to keep the innovation going,” says Frain. With regard to shoes, the brand plans on ramping up its assortment of more avant-garde unisex styles too. “We surprise people with products they don’t expect from us,” says Frain. The label also has its eye on sustainability initiatives as well: In 2021, for instance, it launched Uggrenew, a refurbishment program where one can repair the Ugg boots that they already own. “We’re committed to reducing our carbon footprint, and we have long-term goals and investments with our products being composed with regeneratively sourced materials,” says Frain.

Whatever viral style Ugg plans to release in the near future, however, you can bet on the brand’s collections to always call back to its most iconic classic boot. Meaning, don’t expect the release of a sleek, non-shearling sneaker or stiletto anytime soon. “When we put a product out, we really want it to feel right,” says Frain. “We don’t want to be trying too hard or to be phony.” The brand has experienced consumer hysteria before, so this time it’s doubling down on its polarizing cozy boot—and backing it with pride. “Fashion can be cyclical, so the brands that stay true to their roots—and find ways to be in sync with the trends—are the ones that stay on top of it,” says Frain. “The Ugg boot is our North Star. It’s something in our past that is a treasure—and it’s the key to our future.”