Angus’ A-Z of logos: UGG

Pentagram partner and creative director Angus Hyland explains why the UGG logo – albeit not a beautiful design – perfectly encapsulates the brand it represents.

The best logos come to mind because they’re witty or clever or beautifully executed — and sometimes a winning combination of all three. This logo is none of those things. It’s dull, clunky, totally forgettable and – if we’re being brutally honest – ugly.

So why does the UGG logo deserve a spot in this A–Z? For starters, it’s a masterclass in being exactly what it needs to be, perfectly embodying the product it represents. And while it might not have set out to be a disruptor, it absolutely is one. In the otherwise elegant, minimalist world of fashion logos, UGG stands out like a painfully sore thumb.

While Vogue is impeccably dressed in the refined curves of Bodoni, UGG turns up in a clumsy flared serif, set in mismatched weights and overlapped in a dumpy way. In fashion terms, it’s practically anti-fashion, and yet it just makes sense.

From humble origins as post-surf slip-ons in Australia and New Zealand (with a name derived from Aussie slang for ‘ugly’), suddenly in the 1990s UGG boots became the ‘it’ boot and the off-duty uniform of 90s celebs such as Kate Moss, Sarah Jessica Parker and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Horrified fashion editors tried to kill the trend more than once, declaring UGGs ‘out’ almost as fast as they became ‘in’. Built unapologetically for comfort over style, UGGs have hung around on the sheer strength of the public’s devotion. The people have quite literally voted with their feet — and refused to take their UGG boots off.

The first rule of fashion is what goes around comes around, and now UGG has become cool once again, with fashion-forward collections and recent collabs with fashion designer Reese Cooper and Korean design collective Ambush. The public’s ongoing love affair with UGGs is showing no sign of ending any time soon, so it would seem that like the boots, the UGG logo (in all of its glorious mediocrity), is here to stay for the foreseeable.