Worn by celebs the world over, Ugg boots should have made their inventor Shane Stedman wealthy beyond his wildest dreams.The furry footwear brand is a hit across the globe and is set to earn an astonishing £500million this year alone.
But Shane, 69, a lifelong surfer who also makes surfboards, missed out on a life of wealth and luxury.
After 10 years selling his boots for a few dollars a pair to locals in his Australian town, he signed away the rights to the name.
In return he got three free pairs of Uggs a year for life and just enough money to put his two children through private school.
The shoes now sell for at least £120 a pair – up to several hundred pounds for limited edition Jimmy Choo versions. But Shane insists he’s not bitter about missing out on the millions he could have made if he had held on to the rights.
He still wears the boots almost every day, and asks: “Why should I be angry? I’m proud to have played a role in making them as big around the world.
“It’s great for Australia. They’re iconic Aussie, even though they’re owned by the Yanks. Plus I get three free pairs a year and got paid enough to put my kids through school.”
Shane has lived in the same modest three-bedroom house in the surfing paradise of Mona Vale, north of Sydney, for nearly 50 years. He is a legend among surfers worldwide for his custom-made boards and still makes about 500-a-year from his small workshop.
It was 38 years ago in 1973 that he came up with the boot that evolved into the fleece-lined sheepskin Uggs we know today.
Shane told the Sunday Mirror they were originally called “Ugh” because they were so UGLY.
In fact, he says the sheepskins which he used to make the first boots still had bits of sinew and even meat attached.
If they ever got wet they would smell awful and if a dog got a sniff of them they would usually end up as its dinner.
Shane made the boots for 10 years before signing away the rights to US manufacturer Deckers in 1983 for around £10,000 – and those three pairs of Uggs a year.
He keeps a pair and gives the other two to son Luke, 33, a pro surfer, and daughter Bonnie, 30 – who has just moved to St Helens in Merseyside with her boyfriend after running an orphanage in Bali.
Talking about how he invented the boots, he said: “I’d already been making surfboards for 10 years. A friend of mine called Nat Young came into my workshop where I was making the boards and said, ‘Here’s some card, draw around my foot and make me a boot out of sheepskin’. He wanted to get 10 pairs to sell to his mates, so I made them.
“The sea is bloody cold in the Aussie winter, which is June time. I used to wear football jerseys to keep warm. Trouble was, they nearly drowned you.
“You couldn’t wear wetsuits back then because they were big, thick rubber things for professionals only. Your feet used to freeze, so I thought boots for surfers was a brilliant idea. People in the Aussie outback have been wrapping their feet in sheepskin for years. Trouble was you couldn’t just wrap the skin around your feet and walk on sandy beaches or roads, it just wouldn’t work. I knew they’d have to be modified.
“I found a man at a surfing competition called Mr Spencer who could attach soles to them. After that I never looked back.
“He made them in his garden shed. The quality of the sheepskin got better and the design was modified to make them look how they look now. I registered the trademark Ugh because some people’s reactions to them was ‘ugh!’.
“Eventually, Mr Spencer couldn’t keep up with the orders, so I had to find a manufacturer in Botany Bay to make more of them.
“We went from producing about 20 to 30 a week to 300. Other footwear manufacturers began stealing the idea, which was a good sign, and I was always sending letters with a gentle reminder they were a protected trademark.
“In Oz, even if a name sounds like a trademark, it can’t be used. So no one could call their boots Uggs or anything similar.”
Shane – who divorced his ex-wife Lynne 20 years ago and has dated girlfriend Wendy Hansen for the past four years – said his Ugh boots really took off when they were banned from cinemas in Sydney, along with ripped jeans.
“Because they were banned, the kids just wanted them even more. It was the best thing that could have happened.
“They became cool, something that divided opinion and that has been the way they have been perceived ever since.”
But he knew the writing was on the wall when the Aussie supermarket chain Coles began selling their own version of the boot.
“They weren’t called Ughs or anything like it, so there was nothing I could do. They were stealing the market.
“Deckers in America had also registered the trademark Ugg and wanted to make the boots to sell internationally and they offered me a tidy sum.
“It was a lot of money at the time, enough to put my kids through five years of private school, so I thought, ‘Why not?’. Trademark rules are different in America, so they could use the name Ugg.
“If I had wanted to make my Ughs the No 1 brand I’d have had to move to the US and work my a**e off in a suit and that’s just not me.
“I’ll never give up Sydney and surfing... it’s my life. So I was happy to let it go.
“Me and my company had taken it as far as we could. We had 10 years of fun with it – and having fun was the main thing.”
He added: “My kids love the story about how I came up with it and it’s great to see the likes of Posh Spice and Paris Hilton wearing them. I’ve got Ugg boots all over my house. I couldn’t live without them. I wear them all the time. Even in summer.
“People say to me, ‘How can you wear them? They’ll make your feet sweat’. I tell them, ‘You never see a sheep with sweaty feet’.
“The fleece keeps my feet cool. They are perfect and I’m proud to have come up with them.”
Shane, who insists on working 12 hours a day, said: “I’ll keep working, I’ll never retire. I love making surfboards and I’m also producing a sun block for surfers called Vertra. Just like Uggs, it’s going to be the next big thing!”
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