Backers of the Ed Hardy name find themselves in a constant battle with counterfeiters who quickly and easily create fake Ed Hardy Web sites, almost indistinguishable from the real sites, and then try to manipulate Google’s search and advertising systems. The end goal is to make sure people hunting for Ed Hardy gear online find the fake goods first, lining the pockets of pirates, largely based in China.
That Mr. Hardy ever ended up at the center of a global brand and counterfeiting maelstrom is rather remarkable. “In the early days in the city, I might do one tattoo and then wait three days to do another,” Mr. Hardy said in a recent interview. “I think it’s funny and totally surreal to see what’s happened.”
Neil Cole, the chief executive of Iconix Brand Group, which just bought a stake in the Ed Hardy franchise and keeps track of its worldwide sales, said: “It’s a phenomenon that has happened over the past few years. We’ re looking at this booming business that is now starting to hit Asia and Europe.”
Growing up in the Newport Beach community of Corona del Mar, about 50 miles south of Los Angeles, Mr. Hardy fell in love with tattoos during a time in which they were anything but broadly accepted by mainstream society.
In the 1960s, a large city might have just one tattoo artist, who usually operated out of a non-descript shop. “In those days, everything was very secret,” Mr. Hardy said. “It was a cash business, and tattooers were classed as the lowest form of humanity, so you kept to yourself.”
The tattoo artists were visited most often by an assortment of sailors, military personnel — always appreciated because they showered regularly and were polite — and bikers who picked from limited, preset pictures.
Mr. Hardy, along with a few others in the field, hit on the idea that people ought to have more options and a chance to pick from customized, sweeping designs. He would talk with a client and then set to work, crafting what amounted to body murals rather than the stereotypical anchor and mom pictures.
Over the years, Mr. Hardy built a reputation as one of the most creative tattoo designers, intermixing Asian, Californian and American themes throughout eye-popping pictures.
“I just wanted to develop it as a challenging medium,” Mr. Hardy said. “It was just stupid that everything had to have black outlines.” About five years ago, the French fashion designer Christian Audigier decided to create an Ed Hardy line of clothing, wrapping the tattoo designs around the arms of sweaters and down the legs of jeans so that people could put their counter-culture statements in the closet at night rather than making lifelong commitments.
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