Ugg Spray

Shouldn’t Ugg® be doing this?

It’s like buying a new car and then being told you have to apply your own rustproofing it before you can drive it.

You’d think at one hundred forty bucks a pair , Ugg might waterproof the boots for you. Instead they tell you to Please treat sheepskin and suede footwear with UGG® Water and Stain Repellent prior to wearing to avoid any initial staining. All of which means it’s up to you to cough up ten bucks for the privilege of wading through directions with a few holes in them.

For starters, they never warn you the spray may darken your shoes, make them less soft or  cause colors to run. Could that be the reason they don’t spray them in the first place?  Is it that they want them to look showroom nice?

The do warn you, though,to Spray the sheepskin surface with UGG® Australia Sheepskin Water and Stain Repellant evenly until it appears wet, but not soaked. And what is the difference between wet and soaked? Look up “wet” in The American Heritage Dictionary and you get:

Covered or soaked with a liquid, such as water.

Look up “soak” and it says:

To make thoroughly wet or saturated by or as if by placing in liquid.

Does that make it clear?

You’re also warned to Apply outdoors or in a well-ventilated area yet make no accommodations for winter –the time when many people might choose to buy a product that’s marketed to work in 30° below zero. Though they don’t tell you what’s meant by well-ventilated, the housekeepingchannel.com does. They say:

Try the garage, particularly during inclement weather. Always open all doors to the outside.

This means all of us in city apartments can easily solve this by renting a garage.

If you go online you’ll find the instructions were even less thorough than what was found on the package. and if you call Ugg Customer care at 1.888.432.8530 (Something they easily could have also put on the package) you’ll get:

• a recording of someone reading the same directions over the phone.
• another recording contracting package directions about using a brush
• instructions visit to the website.

Given the above, I suggest Ugg do the following:

• Clarify the instructions by:
  • Defining “Well Ventilated Area”
  • Explain what you mean by wet vs. soaked. Instructions for other products say, “Spray until the surface is covered” or “Until the liquid beads on the surface.” Is that what Ugg means?”
  • Tell us where we can find the required  suede/nubuck brush. As it turns out, Target, CVS, Wallgreen’s all carry them.
  • Define ‘Nap” Wiki calls is the “raised (fuzzy) surface”
  • Warn us about what stains can really destroy our Uggs.
  • Like all products that contain toxins, kindly spell out the names of the chemicals (tiny writing is fine) and remind people to take the product with them to the emergency room. People should know to do that but sometimes they forget.
• Produce a video that demonstrates the procedure.
  • It’s easy to produce. Cheap to post. Look at http://www.apple.com/business/theater/ for examples.

Or simply put the spray on in the first place. Just like car makers finally saw the wisdom of including rustproofing, can’t Ugg see the goodwill it can generate by treating us to the first application of waterproofing? Yes, we will need to renew it but that first application will spare us waiting 24 hours (or until the weather warms up) before we can put on our high priced footwear.