Christian Audigier was born in 1958 in Avignon, France as Christian Ginutti. Audigier wanted to become a rockstar when he was younger, but he lacked musical talent, so he found his gift in outfitting the musicians. You still can see his attitude and musical flavor in every piece he designs.

He worked for brands like Diesel, Lee or Kookai before he had his first big success with Von Ducth and the trucker style caps.

He now is the driving force behind the brand Ed Hardy. Therefore he bought the name rights of the famous tattoo artist Donald Edward Hardy. Inspired by Johnny Hallyday he founded SMET. Another brand is Crystal Rock, which is named after his daughter, Crystal.

After Christian Audigier bought the rights of the famous tattoo artist Don Ed Hardy his vision was to transfer authentic tattoo imagery into a Clothing line and of course also into a lifestyle footwear collection. The Ed Hardy Shoe collection was born. Ed Hardy Shoes combine European edge a fresh California street style.

There’s a never ending list of hipster celebrities wearing Ed Hardy - from shoes to hats and of course the t-shirt, they love all the Ed Hardy stuff. You rarely see Madonna, Paris Hilton, Leonardo Dicaprio, Lil John or Ludacris without wearing anything of Ed Hardy.

One of the most popular Ed Hardy Sneaker styles include Ed Hardy Men’s Crush, the Highrise and the High Rise Cracked Leather, the Lowrise and the Lowrise Cracked Leather. Also very popular are the Ed Hardy Mettallic Decks, Ed Hardy Metallic Lowrise, Ed Hardy Mirror Low rise and Ed Hardy Mercury Sneakers.

2004 the french designer Christian Audigier licensed the rights of Don Ed Hardy to produce the Ed Hardy clothing line. All the clothings produced are based on Hardy’s tattoos. Prior to the Ed Hardy clothing label, Christian Audigier was for example the Head Designer at Von Dutch, which is named af the motocyclist Kenny Howard, whose daughter sold the rights on his nickname after his death.

At Ed Hardy Audigier attempts to replicate the marketing techniques employed by Von Dutch. He does his marketing directly to celebrity clients and openes luxurious stores in high profile fashion districts. And guess what? It works like a charm!