A few years ago, UGG was stomping all over its competitors, but these days, the Australian company is just dancing as fast it can to keep consumers buying.

Yes, there are still queues at the UGG store in New York's Soho district, but that's mostly among tourists, which is why the brand is opening in the trendier Meatpacking district, joining Patagonia and Lululemon in cozying up to crowds at the Standard Hotel and upmarket retailers such as Jeffrey in a bid to woo higher-end shoppers.

The brand sparked a sheepskin boot craze more than a decade ago, and while it's trying to shore up its US business with a new commercial featuring brand ambassador Tom Brady ("Pink Slip," above) and a new store aimed at men, its popularity persists in markets such as the UK, where this month, the company is opening its seventh concept store and working hard to woo kids of all ages.Continue reading...

UGG Australia boots aren’t generally the things you want to pull on when the weather outside gets frightful, but the mild winter may have hurt overall sales in the last quarter for Deckers, the boot’s manufacturer.

SeekingAlpha.com opines that even though parent company Deckers owns other brands such as Teva and Sanuk, the company is made or broken on the success of UGG.

“We think the exceptionally mild weather created a tough selling environment, which dragged down sales and hurt pricing in the first quarter,” the site notes. “We also think some pent-up demand may accumulate because consumers didn't really have the opportunity to dress for the weather as much as they might in other years.”

The good thing is that Ugg boots are positioned as a classic — they don’t change too much year-to-year so whatever didn’t sell this winter can just be trotted out again next year. As SeekingAlpha points out, “UGG boots aren't merely a fad, but rather a staple of the American female's closet.”

Of course, UGG designs for men, too, as the brand's spring campaign and Tom Brady endorsement in the U.S. points out. And the brand offers more than just its iconic sheepskin boot.

All that doesn’t help Deckers at the moment.Continue reading...

Barring another outbreak of Tebowmania on the field at Gillette Stadium on Saturday, the New England Patriots seem poised to take another step on a return to possible Super Bowl glory by defeating the Denver Broncos in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.

But if you were a brand executive assessing the field of highly paid athletes and betting on longer-term endorsement outcomes, not the scoreboard for this particular contest, on which starting quarterback would you place a bet: Tom Brady, the Patriots' pretty-boy field general with the California pedigree, supermodel wife in Gisele Bundchen and other trappings of a jet-setter lifestyle? Or Tim Tebow, the home-schooled Floridian, son of evangelical missionaries and run-minded leader who confesses to one 'vice': vanilla ice cream?

It's a timely question for a number of reasons, one being that neither has begun a full exploitation of his commercial potential.Continue reading...

General Mills' "Coccoon" spot is oddly disturbing, not great at making people want to eat fruit snacks.

Creepy but more effective: Warner Bros. promotes new movie Matt Damon/Gwyneth Paltrow movie Contagion with a "bacteria billboard in Toronto."Continue reading...

Happy World Anti-Counterfeiting Day!

Celebrated each June 8th, this year's 13th annual event sees the launch of a global portal that aims to help consumers avoid knock-offs and "find safe and genuine online stockists of popular designer goods." That new website (launching with brands including adidas and UGG Australia): Brand-i.org, which enables consumers to distinguish between genuine sellers of big brands and rogue traders of counterfeit goods. 

Naturally, luxury brands are alarmed at the rise of counterfeits on a global scale, vigorously defending their brands by taking legal action. While customs and law enforcement officials around the world attempt to squash purveyors of fake name brand luxury goods, academic research on counterfeits increasingly supports a counterintuitive position: these phony goods may actually be good for business.Continue reading...

Barneys NY creative director and author Simon Doonan may be a particularly crank elf this holiday season. In the wake of a management shakeup he's still in place, but rumors of tension with new CEO Mark Lee have surfaced.

Comme Des Garçons brings multi-label concept shops to Beijing.

Proposed design piracy law moves forward.

Fashion's Night Out returning for third time in 2011.

InStyle Magazine is now selling clothes online.Continue reading...

It wasn't just the unsuspecting audience members who flipped for Oprah's two-part, final Favorite Things gift-giving year-end special. Featured brands can also expect a boost in holiday sales thanks to the halo effect of the Winfrey wand.Continue reading...