UGG founder Brian Smith and Guy Raz discuss how Australian sheepskin footwear was generic in Australia before Smith trademarked the name in the US.
Assertion Partly supported
Brian Smith: Lack of Prior Use Enabled US Trademark Registration for UGG
“And I did a search of the world, especially the US, to see if there'd been any prior use of the trade name Ugg, and they had not. So, That opened up the gate for me to do the registration of the trademark.”
Insight
Growing sales without working capital leaves a fast-growing business twice as broke
“The more sales you get, the bigger your problems get in, in supply. I never really understood that. I, my accounting thinking was, we just sold a million dollars worth of product, we're broke. What's the answer? Oh, we'll sell two million next year and think w…”
Disclosure
Smith: UGG's board outvoted him to approve Rush Limbaugh ad campaign
“You know, we'd spent years building up this image of casual comfort and fashion and everything, and so I really fought it, but I was outvoted at a board meeting.”
What-if
Publicizing Oprah's endorsement early would have bankrupted UGG due to insufficient capital
“If we had announced that Oprah was wearing our shoes or boots, it would have killed the company when I owned the company, because I didn't have the capital to build the product to take on that demand.”
Opinion
Brian Smith: Low margins were UGG's biggest 20-year struggle
“That was one of the worst facets of the entire UGG project for 20 years, was the lack of margins I had because the pressure of the retail price kept us way, way down, so it was very hard to make money.”
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Smith: Contract gave away full UGG ownership until trademark dispute resolved
“No, you don't get your stock issued until you finish the trademark. And I just hung the phone up, and I drove from Huntington Beach straight back to San Diego, and I pulled out my contract, and I read it, and I reread it, and I just went, oh, shit. I don't own…”