every store everywhere has ed hardy gear for sale.any with a tattoo design, beedazzled, put on a lighter, on bills of hats, on energy drinks,on the back pockets of some jeans sagging at the kneecaps, etc. . . truth of the matter is in this craft of tattooing we dont have a retirement, we just keep on working until we die. in his retirement from tattooing because he is in his 60′s, a dude walks into ed’s shop in sf. he offers ed a lot of money for the use of his name, and a set of his designs. the dude that offered ed the money did not tell him that he would plaster it on everything (i’m surprised there isnt a chea pet, ed hardy tiger). ed being in his 60′s and retired with no surprise said fuck it, and took the money. he then had zero power how his name and tattoo designs were plastered everywhere. i will still laugh when i see this stuff, but it is my reminder now of just how much he has done for tattooing, even though that dude that bought his shit put it on everything, and in most cases look stupid, but remember. shit i’m looking at my reference library right now and i see over 20 books on tattooing that i have, that ed wrote, including my tattoo times. tattoo time was a tattoo publication that ed put out when there was none.he was also highly responsible for bringing the japanese tattoo style to the u. s. , and wrote letters to “sailor jerry”back and forth rapping about how to do a perfect tattoo,and the new stuff that either learned. the fine art scene looked down on tattooing before ed brought their heads up a little,and he is a big reason sf is the tattoo mecca of the world, there was others before him but he worked really hard at this. just remember that ed has zero to do with what that asshole does with his name, or his art, and i’m sure that he is angry about it.keep that in mind when you see it, most that wear it dont even know who ed hardy is, they think that he’s a clothing designer.
