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.