Leisure attire has taken the world by storm. From athleisure in the form of leggings and yoga pants to colorful, graphic sweat sets, we are now presented with a surge of slippers. Ugg Australia might have played a large role in this surge.
Having emerged in 1978 by an Australian surfer, Ugg boots were initially marketed to men. Uggs first took off in the late 90s after the product was worn by U.S. Olympic athletes at the 1994 Olympic opening ceremony in Norway. From there, they broke out on a more global scale.
Nearly everyone owns a pair of Uggs. Whether they are the same classic tall ones you got for Christmas in middle school or the Bailey Bows which now occupy the back of your closet, Uggs are a staple piece of comfort footwear that have been around — and popular — for most of our Gen Z life.
In recent times, Ugg boots have gotten a revamp after introducing the Mini. They are a shorter version and thus considered more stylish and less of a flashback to your tween years. From there, Uggs had their comeback boosted by the likes of social media. While they are warm and cozy with their sheepskin, they lack the appropriate sole traction needed for a Wisconsin winter.
Just this fall, Bella Hadid was spotted on the streets of NYC sporting the Classic Ultra Mini Platform Ugg boots, and it created a frenzy. All of a sudden the shoe skyrocketed to new heights of demand and have been sold out since the beginning of November, proving how sometimes all it takes is a chunky, platform sole to regain relevance. If it wasn’t the boots, then it was the new and improved platform Tazz and Disquette slipper.
Both the boots and slippers can be seen worn by women all over the University of Wisconsin’s campus, begging the question of if you should be wearing slippers out of the house. It creates a particularly gray area of what it means to choose fashion over comfort and vice versa.
Has the socialization of loungewear transitioned past just being cute and cozy in your home to the normalization of wearing slippers on the dirty sidewalks of Madison? It is an interesting phenomenon. Uggs are pushing the boundary having stylized their slippers with a platform and a durable outsole. The next step is to waterproof them, a matter consumers continue to have to take into their own hands.
