Having a celebrity wear your clothing brand is usually good for business -- get your dress on Kate Middleton, for instance, and you can pretty much expect sales to shoot through the roof. But if your brand is sported by a less-liked celebrity, it can turn into a brand catastrophe.
Just ask Ed Hardy, who said having reality personality Jon Gosselin photographed in his clothing led to the brand's demise.
“That Jon Gosselin thing was the nail in the coffin,” the tattoo artist told the New York Post. “That’s what tanked it. Macy’s used to have a huge window display with Ed Hardy, and it filtered down and that’s why Macy’s dropped the brand.”
Gosselin was frequently snapped by the paparazzi wearing the tattoo-inspired clothing brand during a 2009 yachting trip to Cannes. Sure, bonafide celebs such as Madonna had also publicly sported Hardy's clothing, but that apparently wasn't enough to combat the negative association brought on by the star of "Jon & Kate Plus 8."
However, Hardy doesn't blame only Gosselin for sinking his clothing empire. He also points the finger at Christian Audigier, the French fashion designer who was responsible for getting Hardy's ink-inspired artwork onto clothing and other products.
“Christian worships celebrities so much, he will get next to anyone who is famous for anything,” Hardy told the Post. “If he could have gotten Charles Manson in a shirt, he would have.”