Ugg Keeps Renting Its Edge From Menswear Designers
Ugg's new Willy Chavarria collection casts Eva Longoria and Becky G in a biker-inspired family saga, the latest reminder that Ugg's cultural credibility keeps arriving by way of someone else's name.
Ugg launched a global collection with designer Willy Chavarria on September 10, five boot and slipper styles plus two apparel pieces built around biker leather and shearling. The campaign stars Eva Longoria, Becky G, Danny Trejo, and Ivan Cornejo as a contemporary Latino family shot like a 1990s sitcom, with Chavarria calling the line "a love letter to the outlaw in you." The Guard Boot, the Biker and Relaxed Boots referencing Ugg's 1999 Birch Collection, and the Hotel Chavarria Slipper round out the drop.
The interesting part isn't the leather, it's the pattern. Ugg's core identity has been the same cozy, slightly uncool shearling boot for two decades, and every time the brand wants a culture-press moment, it hands the pen to a designer with more edge than it has on its own. Chavarria brings Chicano tailoring credibility and a Paris Fashion Week runway pedigree that Ugg's in-house design team simply doesn't have, and the strategy works exactly as intended: Longoria and Trejo generate the kind of coverage a straight product drop never would.
The risk is résumé fatigue. Chavarria has stacked footwear collaborations across multiple brands this year alone, which means Ugg isn't borrowing a scarce resource, it's one name on a growing list. Borrowed cool works until the borrower stops being the exception and starts being one more line on someone else's calendar.
Kyle Duford, Founder & Editor, BRNDWIRE. More from Kyle →
