In 2004 Christian Audigier created the Ed Hardy label after he was granted exclusive rights to the designs of renowned tattoo artist Don Ed Hardy.

With Ed Hardy, Audigier created not only a brand, but an entire lifestyle and culture of street couture. The products appealed to both men and women equally, a rarity in the contemporary market. More than 5,000 celebrities of all genres supported and were frequently seen wearing the Audigier's label.

In 2006, Gary Berman secured the rights to sell the brand in Asia Pacifc and the UK. Within 3 years time Gary went on to develop over 30 stores and outlets including:

CORPORATE SUMMARY ›

The establishment of ED HARDY in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, London, UK and Scotland represented a challenge because when Gary Berman committed to the first two locations and purchased in excess of $500,000 in Ed Hardy inventory, he was the Company’s sole employee, having just sold his EDG business (and transferred all the Head Office employees) to Macquarie Bank. Treating Ed Hardy as the startup that it was, Gary wore many hats and using just a very small group, focused on: Store Design, Brand Creation, Product, Systems, Warehousing, Distribution, Staff, Digital and Finance.

Within just a few months, three stores were launched in Melbourne, Sydney and Noosa and were ready for the Christmas trading period. To facilitate this, the following was done within the same period:

• store design and costing
• store build and management
• warehouse space source, lease signed
• warehouse fitted out and all warehouse systems established
• POS system selected
• inventory system with thousands of SKU’s entered
• accounting system
• inventory cleared through customs
• store planograms prepared
• PR, Promotions, Digital Media and Social Media were put in place to ensure a successful launch
• launch event created (street closed off for a street party) to ensure maximum press and exposure
• bank financing / facility negotiated and established
• local celebrities brought on board as brand ambassadors
• GM’s and staff of stores hired and trained
• hired warehouse GM and staff, controller, sales and PR staff
• stores opened on time and in plenty of time for Christmas
• initial order 'beefed-up' to cater for Christmas trading
• wholesale business set up in time for next seasons orders
• eCommerce website

Within less than 3 years some 30 dedicated Ed Hardy and Christian Audigier Retail stores as well as some stores within department stores were open in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, London, UK and Scotland. Ed Hardy was a monstrous success, only failing some years later due to the demise of the brand worldwide caused by the lack of the Licensor/ Christian Audigier failing to provide any new direction and inability to offer the fiercely loyal Ed Hardy customers any new product season after season.