A student recently asked me if Uggs were invented in colonial times.
Good thing we started our colonial research recently.
While researching the origins of Uggs, I found some interesting information.
Ugg boots originated in Australia and were originally designed solely for warmth. They were most often worn by Australian surfers in the 1960s, who needed something warm after emerging from the ocean.
Their name derives from the fact that they are ugly, or at least were perceived as such when first invented.
They still are ugly, of course, but I try not to criticize another person’s choice of clothing because I am not an infantile scumbag.
After movie theatres in Sydney banned Ugg boots (the name was not yet trademarked) and ripped jeans in the late 1960s, the footwear became popular among youth as a sign of rebellion.
Making something illegal is often the best way to make it even more popular (a lesson that conservatives don’t seem to ever understand).
In the 1970s, the boots were introduced to surf culture in the United Kingdom and the United States by local surfers returning from competitions in Australia.
Then, in the late 1990s, Uggs became a fashion statement in America, mostly because a few women who pretended to be other women decided that they wanted to keep their feet warm by wearing Uggs, and Uggs were mistaken by women who wanted to be other women as fashion-forward.
