Ugg boots, genuine or fake?? - How to spot a fake.

 

 

Just recently, my very naughty puppy chewed a huge hole through the back of my 5 month old barely worn £210 Ugg boots!! (Classic Tall - Chocolate)

 

I decided that I didnt want to pay the £210 for a brand new pair to replace these Uggs as its coming up to summer and I wont be wearing them as much. I had a quick look on ebay, and found a pair which were going cheap and the woman had only worn these Uggs a couple of times. The Uggs were advertised as genuine and the images displayed the genuine Ugg box and  Schuh packaging next to it.

 

I won these Uggs and they cost me £80 including postage. Bargain I thought!!...until I recieved the Uggs in the post and realised they probably only cost the seller a tenner off the market!!

 

It wasnt until I noticed the box that the boots were delivered in displayed a code for Chesnut coloured Uggs rather than Chocolate and the image of the boots had been torn off. It was then that I decided to compare these boots to my genuine boots and discovered I have been scammed - I have now opened up a case with ebay to try get my hard earned genuine money back!!

 

Before I send these Uggs back (if ebay agrees I have to),  I have taken the time to compare my genuine uggs to these fake Uggs so other innocent people arent scammed out of their money.

 

Please note that some of the points below may not relate to all shapes and colours of Ugg boots.

 

 

How to spot a fake:

 

1. The first thing I noticed about these Uggs was the colour and texture of the boots. The texture of the suede should be smooth and you should be able to push the grain of the suede to get 2 different shades. The suede on real Uggs should not smell of dye!! On most fake uggs, the fake suede is detected by holding the fur inside and the suede on the outside and pulling apart - The layers should NOT come apart to signal real suede however producers of fake uggs have now started to glue these sections together.

 

 

2. The second thing I had noticed when looking at the boots was the difference in height. My genuine boots were almost 1" taller than my fake boots.

 

                                       

 

Above is an image of one of each pairs of boots. Notice how the back (genuine) Ugg is taller - This image isn't the best to show this however I have measured the difference and as I have said, it is almost 1".

 

 

3. The inside sole of genuine uggs is nearly always a cream colour however most black Uggs will come with black fur on the inside sole. The majority of fake Uggs will have a sole colour matching the fur inside the Uggs around the edges.

   

 

Above are 2 images of inside the Uggs (trying to show the sole fur colour - Not the best photos!!). The left image shows the fake Ugg where the sole is the same brown colour as the side fur of the inside of the Ugg. The right image clearly shows the cream coloured fur on the bottom of the inside sole of the genuine Ugg which the majority of Uggs will have.

 

4. The fur inside genuine Ugg boots should be extremely soft and flexible. Fake Ugg boots usually have thick fur which feels matted - this fur usually malts a little when rubbed (see image). The fur in genuine Ugg boots is cleaned up before going out to stores, lumps of fur can only usually be found in fake Ugg boots (image).

 

 

Above is an image of the fur I have accumulated from my fake Ugg boot after wearing it just once! The back piece of fur was from the heel area of the Ugg where is had rubbed when walking. The front piece of fur is from me purely rubbing the fur with my hands. 

 

5.  Stitching on fake Uggs isn't as discreet as on real Uggs. Genuine Uggs use a stronger thread to reduce the visability of stiching, however fake Uggs will use a weaker thread and therefore have to double/triple stitch making it more visable (see image). The seams on the boots shouldn't be too thick and shouldn't alter the shape of the boots - fake boots seem to stick out at the ankles.

 

 Again, above is an image showing both the fake and genuine Ugg boots. The left side (fake) clearly shows stitching that is a lot more visible than the genuine Ugg on the right side. The stitching on the fake boot also seems to reflect light and therefore makes it more obvious.

 

6. The soles of the boots should have the Genuine Ugg imprint (if you have another genuine pair of Uggs you can compare, if not, there are many images on google and my pictures below). Look closely at the ® which should be in the center of the "3 o'clock" section in between the triangles that surround the Ugg logo. This ® should come out of the sole rather than be imprinted into the boot and should have space above and below the symbol. This symbol should also not wear away after a couple of wears!!  

The design of the Ugg symbol  on the sole of the boot should be tidy - The triangles around the logo are usually different sizes or not cut out properly on fake boots. I have noticed that the fake boots have 15 triangles where as both pairs of my genuine boots have 16.

The imprint on the bottom of the boots should be identical on both boots - There is usually only one curved line on the heel of the sole with one curved and spiked line above it; fake boots will have 2  or more of these curved lines (see image).

Both imprints on the soles of the boots should be symmetrical. Fake boots will more than likely be off centre and alters slightly from the opposite boot.

The heels of genuine Ugg boots should not wear down easily. I have had a pair of Uggs for over 2 years (very regularly worn) and the soles are only very slightly worn down at the edges.

 

Above is an image of both fake Ugg boots. Notice how the Uggs have been placed on an even surface and are lined up correctly, however the pattern on the base of the Uggs isn't symmetrical. Note how there are 2 curved lines underneath the curved lines with the spike - genuine Uggs only have 1 curved line. Also notice how the right Ugg has began to wear away on  the heel (not the clearest photo but 1 of the curved lines has half worn away to leave the base smooth).

 

 

 

7. Labels on Ugg boots differ between the colour of the boot, the shape and year etc. so it is important not to jump to conclusions based on the label. The easiest way to see if your label is the correct colour is to check on the Ugg website at the shape and colour of your Uggs and look at the image of the back of the boots.
The labels on the back of genuine Ugg boots are always almost if not perfectly straight and central.
The logo on the Ugg boot should be a solid block colour and shouldn't have rigid edges to the lettering (see images).
I have also noticed on the genuine Ugg boots that my sister and I have bought, that the heel label has a pattern subtly sewn into it. The fake Uggs do not have this - However I am not sure if the pattern is on all labels.

No label should ever say "made in Australia/New Zealand" as all Uggs have been made in China for many, many years.
 

 

 

Above are 2 images of Ugg back heel labels. The left image is the fake and the right image is the genuine. (I am aware that most Chocolate Uggs come with cream back labels - this depends on the year/season of the boots. Mine are genuine as they were bought from Schuh; Oct 2012)

Notice how on the fake (cream) label, the colour of the font is made up of the brown threads and the cream from the material - This should not happen. The font should be block colour. Also note how the lettering on the fake label isn't clean cut and doesn't look smooth where as the genuine label looks defined.

These photos aren't the best to compare, but you can also see from these images that the fake label is slightly wonky compared to the straight label on the real Ugg.

 

 

8. When putting these boots on, the fit of the boots didn't feel right. If you haven't worn genuine Ugg boots before you will have nothing to compare. However genuine Ugg boots  I have found do come abit small so I've always found myself wearing the next size up. Both of my pairs of genuine Ugg boots were bought in a size 7.5 and they were a snug fit when first worn (they tend to stretch slightly after a few wears). I also bought these Ugg boots in a size 7.5 (although on ebay advertised as a 7 - I didnt stop to think Ugg only stock half sizes (or so the staff at Schuh tell me)) and when trying them on, they feel extremely roomy rather than how snug I would have expected them to be after only being worn "a number of times".


9. Finally I've noticed that the colour coordination on the fake Uggs isn't as well thought about as the genuine Uggs. I have found that on the fake boots, the suede, rim and sole are all different shades of brown, however the colouring of these sections on the genuine Uggs seem to be a much, much closer match.

Above is an image showing the different shades of sections on both the fake (left) and genuine (right) Uggs.


Quick tests:

1. The burn test - If you pull a teeny bit of the fur from the inside of the boot and put it against a flame (not in it) the fur will either melt or singe. If it melts this is a sign that the fur is synthetic and therefore your boots are fake. However some fake boots do use real fur!!

2. Layer test - Put your hand inside the boot and grip the fur, you also need to grip the same area on the outside on the suede. Pull away from each other with a fair amount of force. If these layers come apart this is a sign that it is not real sheep skin (as skin and fur on animals isn't made up of layers) and that the manufacturer has used glue. This will NEVER happen with real Uggs.


Reminder: Not all of these points will be correct for all shapes/years/seasons of Uggs however if the majority are correct then you have possibly been scammed.