wishfulthinking
Misbehaving
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2003
- Posts
- 1,972
Watch out US, us Aussies are mad!
Ugg boot boycott
The sheepskin is flying in the great 'ugg boot' war.
Having registered the name 'ugg' in several countries, American footwear giant Deckers has pressured about 20 Australian companies to stop using the word.
Tony Mortel's company is one of them.
"Tactics like this are used to intimidate an industry and we are not going to be intimidated," Mr Mortel said.
He claims ugg is a generic Australian term just like sheila, thong or pie.
"Next they'll be trademarking 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie' and we won't be able to yell that out at the cricket anymore," Mr Mortel said.
Mr Mortel's family business has been making ugg boots since 1958.
Now he's behind a fighting fund to raise money to battle Deckers and put the ugg back into Australian sheepskin boots.
"Australia is born and bred on the sheep's back and you cannot get a more Australian industry than the sheepskin ugg boot industry," he said.
"For one American company to come in and hold our whole industry to ransom is ludicrous and should not happen."
Shockwaves from the American takeover of the ugg boot have been felt across the nation.
Westhaven Industries is an Australian charity organisation that employs 65 mentally handicapped people to produce ugg boots for the world.
But not any more. The company says it's a David and Goliath battle and if sales are affected they won't be able to support the workforce.
They include people like Doug, a boot maker for 30 years.
"We may lose our jobs and we may not be able to make any more boots," he said.
For these special Aussies this is more than a job.
The ugg boot war could spell the end of their working lives because they don't have any other training.
Deckers' Australian lawyer Tony Watson says he doesn't want to close anybody down.
"I think the misconception we're dealing with here is that my client is trying to stop other people making sheepskin boots," Mr Watson said.
"My client welcomes competition - anyone is perfectly free to make sheepskin boots."
But you can't call them 'uggs'.
"My client has spent over $7 million in the last 10 years promoting their brand to the rest of the world," Mr Watson said.
"It's they who have made this brand popular to the rest of the world."
And that's where the argument lies - what's in a name?
Mr Mortel claims the word 'ugg' can be traced back to 1918.
"So to say that ugg is anything but Australian is just crazy," he said.
For Deckers it's not that simple.
"You can't just go and produce a cooler and call it an esky," Mr Watson said. "You can't produce a biro and put Biro on it, that's a trademark which is owned by BIC in the UK."
As part of the ugg boot war Deckers has told Aussie companies to close down their websites and even withdraw business cards.
'Buy Australian' campaigner Dick Smith believes it's time to stand up and fight.
"This is all about big money from American multinationals," Mr Smith said.
He says the multinationals usually win.
"If the Australian government doesn't do something about this the small Aussie companies will go under," Mr Smith said. "They will lose because they don't have the money."
Tony Mortel is now bracing himself for the fight of his life. He's pulling together all Aussie and New Zealand boot makers and has urged all Australians to boycott sheepskin boots made overseas.
"I make some of the best ugg boots in Australia," Mr Mortel said.
"And we're going to continue to make ugg boots, and we're going to continue to call them 'ugg boots' - try and stop us."
Ugg boot boycott
The sheepskin is flying in the great 'ugg boot' war.
Having registered the name 'ugg' in several countries, American footwear giant Deckers has pressured about 20 Australian companies to stop using the word.
Tony Mortel's company is one of them.
"Tactics like this are used to intimidate an industry and we are not going to be intimidated," Mr Mortel said.
He claims ugg is a generic Australian term just like sheila, thong or pie.
"Next they'll be trademarking 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie' and we won't be able to yell that out at the cricket anymore," Mr Mortel said.
Mr Mortel's family business has been making ugg boots since 1958.
Now he's behind a fighting fund to raise money to battle Deckers and put the ugg back into Australian sheepskin boots.
"Australia is born and bred on the sheep's back and you cannot get a more Australian industry than the sheepskin ugg boot industry," he said.
"For one American company to come in and hold our whole industry to ransom is ludicrous and should not happen."
Shockwaves from the American takeover of the ugg boot have been felt across the nation.
Westhaven Industries is an Australian charity organisation that employs 65 mentally handicapped people to produce ugg boots for the world.
But not any more. The company says it's a David and Goliath battle and if sales are affected they won't be able to support the workforce.
They include people like Doug, a boot maker for 30 years.
"We may lose our jobs and we may not be able to make any more boots," he said.
For these special Aussies this is more than a job.
The ugg boot war could spell the end of their working lives because they don't have any other training.
Deckers' Australian lawyer Tony Watson says he doesn't want to close anybody down.
"I think the misconception we're dealing with here is that my client is trying to stop other people making sheepskin boots," Mr Watson said.
"My client welcomes competition - anyone is perfectly free to make sheepskin boots."
But you can't call them 'uggs'.
"My client has spent over $7 million in the last 10 years promoting their brand to the rest of the world," Mr Watson said.
"It's they who have made this brand popular to the rest of the world."
And that's where the argument lies - what's in a name?
Mr Mortel claims the word 'ugg' can be traced back to 1918.
"So to say that ugg is anything but Australian is just crazy," he said.
For Deckers it's not that simple.
"You can't just go and produce a cooler and call it an esky," Mr Watson said. "You can't produce a biro and put Biro on it, that's a trademark which is owned by BIC in the UK."
As part of the ugg boot war Deckers has told Aussie companies to close down their websites and even withdraw business cards.
'Buy Australian' campaigner Dick Smith believes it's time to stand up and fight.
"This is all about big money from American multinationals," Mr Smith said.
He says the multinationals usually win.
"If the Australian government doesn't do something about this the small Aussie companies will go under," Mr Smith said. "They will lose because they don't have the money."
Tony Mortel is now bracing himself for the fight of his life. He's pulling together all Aussie and New Zealand boot makers and has urged all Australians to boycott sheepskin boots made overseas.
"I make some of the best ugg boots in Australia," Mr Mortel said.
"And we're going to continue to make ugg boots, and we're going to continue to call them 'ugg boots' - try and stop us."
