Starting Thursday, Ugg is letting some lucky customers renew their boots this season and beyond.
As part of its UGGrenew refurbishment program, U.S.-based customers can refresh their Ugg Classic Boots in a menu of services as part of its broader circularity aims.
“UGG has made so many strides over the last year identifying key pillars to create a brand that makes positive impact through tangible results,” said Dave Powers, president and chief executive officer of Deckers Brands, which owns Ugg.
Ugg Classic Boots are a staple for a reason, and the company said its customer surveys indicate the boots are worn “for years” at a time. UGGrenew hopes to even further prolong that wear time.
Behind the scenes, Ugg is partnering with NuShoe, a San Diego-based premium shoe repair company that also works with Ariat and Birkenstock, to offer three levels of dedicated service, including renew (a full restoration with new bindings and fresh Treadlite Ugg sole for $80), restore (a deep steam-cleaning and fresh Treadlite Ugg sole for $60) and refresh (a deep steam-cleaning for $40).
In the cleaning steps, NuShoe uses only “naturally derived” detergents which help lift stains and odors as well as condition the leather. Across partners, NuShoe’s capacity is limited to 100 pairs of shoes per day, but the company aims to scale the program to enable service of almost a quarter-million pairs per year by 2023.
At present, only U.S.-based Ugg customers can try the UGGrenew service by visiting Ugg.com and booking an appointment. From there, the customer pays the service fee to NuShoe and ships out their Classic Boots (the only style currently being repaired) using a shipping label Ugg provides.
The commitment fits into Ugg’s broader regenerative ambitions under its “Feel Good” sustainability program. In line with the news, Deckers Brands also announced that its climate goals (a near-term goal in line with a 1.5-degree emissions pathway) were approved by the Science-Based Targets Initiative.
In its own camp, Ugg is dedicated to increasing recycled, upcycled and regenerated materials (by 35 percent) while moving to be entirely plant-based faux fur by 2027. (The tease-out of this happened first in March 2021 with Ugg’s Plant Power Collection, followed by its Icon-Impact Collection).
Source: WWD