Do we like them?

Do we like Ugg (Deckers Brands)?

Makes UGG sheepskin boots and HOKA running shoes; Deckers Brands is based in the US (California).

Our score: 5 out of 10. A strong business with decent supply-chain and emissions targets. But it uses animal products, is aggressive over the UGG trademark, and the evidence we found on its record is a few years old.

Deckers bought the UGG brand in 1995 from Australian Brian Smith. It now runs UGG and HOKA, and Stefano Caroti took over as CEO in August 2024 after Dave Powers retired. Fiscal 2026 was another record year: UGG sales were about $2.7bn and HOKA's about $2.6bn.

The big drama is the trademark. In Australia 'ugg' is widely used as a generic word for sheepskin boots. Deckers has protected its US trademark hard. A court ordered Australian Leather to pay Deckers $450,000 over boots sold abroad under the name 'UGG Since 1974', and the US Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal.

On animals, Deckers says UGG uses sheepskin only as a byproduct of the meat industry. PETA has called for a boycott of UGG. Deckers also said in 2022 it would phase alpaca wool out of its brands by fall 2023.

On the supply chain, Deckers set science-based targets to cut absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions 46% by FY30. Its FY20 report said every first-tier factory was audited. It says it avoids sourcing from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan because of forced labour. Those reports are a few years old, so we give it a middling score.