Douglas B. Otto (born 1951) is a business executive who co-founded

Deckers Outdoor Corporation Deckers Outdoor Corporation, doing business as Deckers Brands, is a footwear designer and distributor based in Goleta, California, United States. It was founded in 1973 by University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Doug Otto and Karl F. ...

whose portfolio includes the

UGG Australia UGG is an American fashion company primarily known for its sheepskin boots, founded in 1978 by Australian surfer Brian Smith in Santa Monica, California. After putting on his pair of Australian sheepskin boots after a chilly late-night surf in ...

brand.

Early life and education

Otto was born in 1951 to two high school educators. He attended and graduated from the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

with a B.A. in business economics in 1973.

Deckers Outdoor Corporation

While at UCSB in 1973, Otto began producing sandals with classmate Karl F. Lopker. The duo, with Otto handling sales and distribution while Lopker oversaw manufacturing, based the company on durable, long-lasting sandals which catered to the surf community. After buying out Lopker in 1982, Otto decided to license and manufacture other companies' product which resulted in a 1985 agreement with Teva. Deckers went public in October 1993 and in 1995 acquired

. The move, engineered by Otto, has been described as a "... brilliant and lucrative business maneuver..." and "one of the great success stories within the consumer category." The UGG brand, with Deckers, gained market traction slowly, but after an

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...

feature on a "Favorite Things show sales and popularity increased dramatically. UGGs soon became a fashion trend ingrained in popular culture with celebrities such as

Kate Moss Katherine Ann Moss (born 16 January 1974) is a British model. Arriving at the end of the "supermodel era", Moss rose to fame in the early 1990s as part of the heroin chic fashion trend. Her collaborations with Calvin Klein brought her to fas ...

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Known for her influence on modern pop music and her Camp (style), campy style, she has been ...

Gisele Bündchen Gisele Caroline Bündchen (, , born 20 July 1980) is a Brazilian fashion model. Since 2001, she has been one of the highest-paid models in the world. In 2007, Bündchen was the 16th-richest woman in the entertainment industry and earned th ...

, and

Sarah Michelle Gellar Sarah Michelle Prinze ( ; born April 14, 1977) is an American actress. After being spotted at the age of four in New York City, she made her screen acting debut in the television film ''An Invasion of Privacy'' (1983). A leading role on the te ...

all wearing the brand as well as being shown on ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City (newspaper column), newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the ...

''. Otto retired from Deckers in 2008, but revenue continued to climb and first hit $1 billion US dollars in 2010.

Personal life

Doug Otto is married to Rita Otto and has three children. He is currently the President and Chairman of the Board for The Whale Beach Foundation, roles he has held since 1994. He was honored by UC Santa Barbara in 2009 with its "Distinguished Alumni" award, joining his Deckers Corporation co-founder Karl Lopker who was a 1998 honoree.

References

External links

Bloomberg Businessweek executive biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Otto, Doug University of California, Santa Barbara alumni 1951 births Living people