Aimé Leon Dore and UGG Announce Debut Footwear Collaboration

Aimé Leon Dore

Aimé Leon Dore

Aimé Leon Dore and UGG have announced their debut footwear collaboration, launching on November 12. The release centers on a new moccasin silhouette, the UGG ALD Slipper, with no official retail price confirmed yet. To accompany the drop, the brands shared an unscripted campaign filmed on a Harlem stoop starring longtime friends and hip-hop artists Method Man and Redman.

Founded by Teddy Santis in 2014, Aimé Leon Dore has consistently drawn from its Queens, New York origins. Santis, born and raised in New York to Greek immigrant parents, built the label on a foundation of simple, powerful design that reflects his dual heritage. The brand has expanded significantly over the past decade, opening physical flagships in New York and London, and establishing the Café Leon Dore extension to further cement its community-driven aesthetic. This new partnership with UGG adds to a long list of Aimé Leon Dore collaborations, which includes ongoing projects with New Balance, Woolrich, and a Porsche 964 Carrera 4 restoration. The label's sophisticated approach to contemporary streetwear continues to merge cultural nostalgia with modern wardrobe essentials.

UGG brings a contrasting West Coast heritage to the collaboration. The brand was established in 1978 on the shores of Southern California by Brian Smith, a young Australian surfer who wanted to recreate the comfort of warming up after a chilly morning in the Pacific waves. By the mid-1980s, UGG had become a symbol of relaxed coastal culture, gaining momentum in surf shops up and down the state. It later transitioned into a global fashion staple in the early 2000s, complete with high-profile capsules and a flagship store in Soho, New York. The partnership highlights UGG's strategy of bridging its indoor-outdoor comfort heritage with contemporary streetwear aesthetics, a shift from its post-surf functional origins.

The campaign for the UGG ALD Slipper features Method Man and Redman, whose collaborative history spans three decades. The two artists met during the early 1990s when both were establishing themselves on the Def Jam Recordings roster, Method Man as a breakout star of the Wu-Tang Clan and Redman alongside EPMD's Erick Sermon. After collaborating on tracks like Tupac Shakur's "Got My Mind Made Up" and their own anthem "How High", they released their first joint album,Blackout!, in 1999, followed by a sequel a decade later. In the new Harlem-based unscripted campaign, the longtime friends engage in intimate dialogue, reminiscing about family, shared histories, and their lives as cultural pioneers. Their mutual respect and authenticity directly reflect the core ethos uniting both brands.

Design details of the UGG ALD Slipper

The UGG ALD Slipper reimagines a traditional moccasin silhouette. Engineered to transition smoothly between indoor home lounging and urban outdoor wear, the shoe emphasizes a considered focus on craftsmanship and premium materials. The upper is constructed from full-grain leather and features subtle collaborative iconography, pairing a debossed UGG logo with the signature Aimé Leon Dore Queens Crest emblem. The slipper arrives in two seasonal colorways.

Where to buy the UGG ALD Slipper

The debut collaboration will officially launch in November.

Release date: November 12, 2026, at 12 p.m. EST

Colorway: "Dark Coffee Bean", "Goldenrod"

Where to buy: aimeleondore.com