When Shane Stedman sold his Ugg boot invention 28 years ago, he made a whole £10,000. Today his invention is worth $799m a year. However, if you think he regrets his decision to sell then you would be mistaken reports news.com.au.
Ugg boots have come a long way since their 1973 creation – designed to keep surfers’ feet warm in chilly Australian conditions.
A lifelong surfer, Mr Stedman, now 69, who lives at beachside Mona Vale in Sydney, told British newspaper the Daily Mail his invention grew from need.
But his sheepskin invention soon solved the nippy problem and Mr Stedman went on to spend a decade selling the sturdy boots, until 1983 when he sold the rights to US company Deckers, for £10,000 plus three pairs of Ugg boots each year for the rest of his life.
“If I had wanted to make my Uggs the number one brand, I’d have had to move to the US and work my arse off in a suit and that’s just not me,” Mr Stedman said.
Of the money he was paid, Mr Stedman said he had jumped at the chance.
“It was a lot of money at the time – enough to put my kids through five years of private school, so I thought: ‘Why not?’.”
He said he keeps one of the three free pairs of boots he receives each year and gives the others to his adult children.
Photo by UggBoy♥UggGirl