2010 is the year Ed Hardy officially dies. I’ve heard a lot from people in the industry that Ed Hardy is ugly and that it’s too busy and so forth. It’s easy to hate on Ed Hardy but the truth is that the aesthetics are not inherently awful. Yes, some of them were and they especially were hideous when the brand sold out and tried to milk the trend as much as it could.

People in the fashion industry hate Ed Hardy and it’s rumored that people who are into tattoos do not wear the brand. But it was a craze, and Christian Audiger made a lot of money it from it. More money than he made from Von Dutch. The fact is that they over sold it, they licensed everything out. Like a pyramid scheme the last to enter will be the big losers.

Being in the industry I know a lot about Ed Hardy that the consumers don’t know. They just see their pieces everywhere and thinks it’s cool. Now they are starting to clue in and the sales of anything Ed Hardy have dropped. The stores to whom I’ve spoken have not ordered anything Ed Hardy for spring and are desperately trying to get rid of the current inventory.

In addition if you look at the new Ed Hardy designs you’ll notice that the style have changed. And the logo has changed too. It is usually not a good sign when a brand changes his style and logo. Very few lines are able to reposition themselves successfully and when you are such a well known brand and is so strongly associated with something it’ll be impossible for you to change.

Whatever happens, though, there is no denying that Christian Augdier is a great marketer.
Check out a photo of myself and him at the Project show, one of the most read post.

What does Al Ries say about logo t-shirts? Wait, who the heck is Al Ries? Marketing genius, Al Ries, is one of the top and most respected marketing gurus, having written some of the most important marketing books. I not only love his stuff, but also highly respect his work.

Welcoming revelers, well-wishers, and local celebrities (including members of the Toronto Raptors, and MTV host Nicole Holness), into Toronto’s Tryst nightclub, Creamworld Magazine celebrated the launch of its ‘09 winter issue. Ensuring that everyone had a great time, Famous, the Flow 93.5 personality who became a YouTube sensation with his President Too video, took to the stage as the night’s host. And to top off the fun evening, numerous giftbags with goodies from Creamworld’s supporters, including JUZD Streetwear, were given out.

While Creamworld Magazine has plenty to celebrate, so does JUZD! With a full-page advertisement in the magazine’s upcoming issue, the team (including all the models), along with two lucky fans, celebrated their hard work and success in the VIP lounge!

Ed Hardy models wants a piece of JUZD

Check this out! The DJ is sporting JUZD!

Holding the new issue of Creamworld Magazine, Jing Liu, lead designer of JUZD, is proud to be at the party!

Lead designer, Jing Liu, celebrates with JUZD models

JUZD model, Deniz Reno, shows off the full-page advertisement of JUZD found in Creamworld Magazine

JUZD Models having a great time!

Photography by Deniz Reno

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Original post in July 29th 2008 issue of 24 Hours.
Original article written by Tanya Enberg, 24 hours

Bamboo first
Holt Renfrew keeps sharpening its edge.
The retail chain, which gives great play to Canuck clothing labels, has gone one step further by bringing on a largely unknown Toronto designer.

His name is Jing Liu and if you’ve never hear of him or his JUZD (pronounced joost) Bamboo streetwear collection, don’t’ be surprised. After all, he has never been trained in fashion design or cut his teeth at a design firm.

That, however, hasn’t stopped Holts from taking the unusual step of bringing the newbie designer’s graphic-laden garb-the world’s first designer bamboo label-to its high-end department stores.

The collection was delivered to Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver earlier this month. Check out Liu’s work at: juzdbamboo.com

The population of Guangzhou metropolitan is estimated to be 8.5 million people. That’s 8.5 MILLION! That’s New York City’s 5 boroughs combined. Guangzhou city is known for it’s clothing and fabric market and it draws a lot of the Chinese from near by cities. In addition clothing is a major part of the Chinese society as China is the highest producer of clothing and textile.

…things are done quite different from any other country.

With this type of market demand the culture and the way things are done are quite different from any other country. In Guangzhou city I was staying with my friend Jacky. His aunt owns a factory and has a friend that produces smaller production runs which is perfect for JUZD. We headed over to the clothing market to see him.

We were dropped off right in the eye of the busy market. It was early in the morning midweek, some shops weren’t even open yet and there were already customers and foreigners lining up for a deal. Each shop is clean and well organized. Most shops are the size of a small 100 square feet tradeshow booth. Yet there were many shops and much were squeezed into each.

Quickly I noticed a consistent theme. Everything they sold were knockoffs. There were many vendors and each vendor had many items but they were the same. Knockoffs, knockoffs, and knockoffs. I felt sick to my stomach. Not only am I strongly against knock offs, I even hate it when one brand produces a similar design as another. The choice of knock offs for the day are American Eagle, Ed Hardy, Abercrombie and Fitch, and good old Nike. They don’t like it when you take pictures in the mall. I guess they are scare that you will knock off their knock offs.

…doesn’t make sense doing an original brand.

Right on top of these knock off shops were their sales office. Each of these shops had a factory. Where? Were they sweatshops? I don’t know. I did not enjoy the vibe from this area and did not want to venture to the appointment but to save face I went. Overall everything was professional and clean. From the stores to the office. And the knockoff designs were pretty good. Creative. But did not even want to go near the product to see the quality and construction. I would have given them a little respect if it was their own brand. But the market demand knockoffs. Base on the economics, for a small Chinese shop it doesn’t make sense doing an original brand.

I’ll pay the higher price and maintain my principle, thank you!

I got a quote for the production of some of the designs and the cost of shocking. Some of the cost were 1/5 of what I was paying. They wanted me to ship my custom made bamboo fabric to them for producing the shirts. As attractive as the offer was I won’t switch my factory even just for the simple fact that I can’t see JUZD line made by a knock off specialists. I’ll pay the higher price and maintain my principle, thank you!

Apartment buildings are right across the street from the clothing market. In China there is less restriction on zoning so you’ll see mesh of commercial and residential buildings side by side.

Fresh fur with the animal head attached. These guys look like they came straight out of the jungle.

From February 12th to the 15th the JUZD team was in Las Vegas checking out North America’s premiere fashion trade shows, MAGIC, POOL, and PROJECT. Despite the predicting US recession the buyers were spending and spending lots. It was a good season for the brands we visited. Above photo (Jing Liu aka me! [lead designer of JUZD Bamboo Streetwear], Masahiko Nakane aka Polo [owner of Panty Japan], Christian Audigier, Yuichi Ishii [buyer for Panty Japan])

Once again Christian Audigier was the talk of the show.With the largest booth at Project, guest stars, naked (but artistically painted) girls, swimsuit models, and a performance by Snoop, Christian Audigier’s booth was the spot to chill. Christian Audigier also premiere his latest label Crystal Rock, named after his daughter.

The colorful Creative Recreation showcased its new sneaker collection and style for Fall. While smaller labels such as Shmack Footwear were making head waves and extending their distribution for the fist time to Japan.

I was able to check out Raw 7. It maintained it’s high end grudge style. It brought its unique style of art to sandals and underwear (which I got samples of woohoo). Another brand that caught my eye was Hard 8, an up and coming brand out of LA. It has simliar grunge style as Raw 7 and strong symbolic designs. What was also great was the overall fit and design of the shirts. It fits and feels really good and the designs was perfect for the shirt.

Pool was also a very interesting experience. It was one big chilling lounge. Lots of cool and funky brands. Alternative Apparel was a major sponsor, they were giving out free t-shirts, hats, and other cool stuff. But one of the most interesting brand is Cyberoptix Tie Lab. They print designs on ties and their creativity and craftmanship are amazing. Had a chance to talk to Bethany who is the principle designer and she’s a really nice girl. It’s not the usual silk suit ties I’m use to.

As for Magic, the big show, it wasn’t all that interesting…to me anyways. Lots of huge brands. As for the streetwear section, it was like night clubs, with girls in skimpy outfits handing out flyers. But that’s the streetwear culture. I prefer the class of Project.

Overall it was a very enlightening trip and I had a lot of fun. We are currently trying to get a booth at the Project show in August. Come check us out!