Ugg boots: birth of an Aussie fashion icon

‘Others were making them too’, Stedman says now. ‘Back then there would be a bloke on the side of the road selling them.’ This led him to register the trademark in 1968. Later on, he sold UGH to Deckers, ‘they’ve been great, they ring me up now and then for advice’. Stedman still receives three pairs of Ugg boots a year from Deckers and attests that the boots have improved over the years – ‘they didn’t used to have soles, so when they got wet they stank!’.

Making Uggs is just one part of Stedman’s legendary career as surfer, surfing competition compere, surfboard designer and shaper, and now sunscreen maker. He first started making his ‘Shane’ surfboards in 1963 out of his mum’s garage - a tin shed with no electricity on the northern beaches of NSW. The business is still operating today.

On seeing the newsreel today, Stedman says he has good memories and that his son, pro-surfer Luke Stedman, was amazed to see how much hair his dad had back in the day. Shane reflects on his career, saying ‘it’s been a fun ride, I’ve had such a good time, such a buzz’. At the end of our telephone conversation I ask if he still wears Uggs and he says he’s ‘got a pair on right now’.