Sunday, April 19, 2015

Ed Hardy's Reputations

Ed Hardy became a known figure around the world during the past years, but many people seem to question his popularity after entering the capital commerce. Ed Hardy first earned his high reputation as one of the best tattoo artists after learning from Sailor Jerry himself and drawing his designs on customers from all around the globe. However, after his name became recognized world-wide, he decided to take advantage of his popularity and express his designs through other sources other than tattoos. Hardy took a swift of direction from tattooing and decided to look at fashion to elaborate his designs. He created his own brand known as ED Hardy, in which he create designs for clothing, shoes, wine glasses glasses, and many more including diaper bags and toilet seats. This shift of commerce was not very well accepted by many of his fans that were inspired by his work and classified him as a sell-out. His brand became quite known and popular, but as his products and sells grew, so did his reputation as a sell-out. It probably wasn’t an easy for him to switch from his practice of been a tattoo artists to focusing on commerce and fashion. It seemed like the right direction to take in order to increase popularity and revenue, and although it did work, it sort of backfired as he saw anger, annoyance, and hate directed towards him by his disapproving fans and those did not like his new methods of making money at all. It did not take long for people to create websites and blogs expressing how they felt about Ed Hardy, which was not very positive, and stating why they think he made the wrong choice. As we saw his reputation as a sell-out rise, we also saw his reputation as a tattoo artists fall. Often when people hear the name Ed Hardy, some think that he is a legendary tattoo artists and other might simply recognize his name by brand in the fashion  world. Those who really know his work might asks themselves, did Ed Hardy ruin his reputation as a tattoo artists by entering the commerce and fashion industry? The answer is in the hands of each individual, some might agree that he made the wrong choice while others might agree that he is one of the best tattoo artist and there is nothing wrong creating his famous designs on clothing and make some money from it. However, in his book, he did mention that he regrets making the decision of entering the commerce world, or as many describe it, selling-out. Did Ed Hardy write his book in order to justify his action and perhaps try to fix the high reputation he once had? Those are some of the questions that pop in my head whenever we are discussing his name in class. It is hard to tell whether he really regrets his decisions, considering all the money generated from his new industry. Maybe he really feels no regret and wrote the book to attempt to convince his disapproving fans that they should not look at him as a sell-out, or maybe he really is sorry and would give all the money he made to gain his famous and respectable reputation back. Regardless of what anyone thinks, Ed Hardy made enormous contributions to the tattooing industry, and like professor Peace said in class, the tattoo world wouldn’t be the same without Ed Hardy and it would probably be a decade behind from where it is now if it weren’t for him.

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