# Why does Ed Hardy = Douchebag?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ed-hardy-douchebag/520178>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 6, 2009, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ed-hardy-douchebag/520178 "2009-12-06T06:11:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 6

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**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ed-hardy-douchebag/520178/6 "2009-12-06T17:14:29Z")

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Ed Hardy shirts are incredibly popular among a subset of douchebags. They are not all that popular among the rest of the population for two reasons. First, they are very expensive, and even if a person happens to like they style, it’s hard to convince them to shell out so much cash for a simple t-shirt unless there’s something about it that makes them really really want it–like the fact that their friends will think it’s very cool. Second, as Ed Hardy t-shirts have become more and more associated with douchebags, non-douchebags who might be willing to buy and wear one just because they like it might opt not to do so for fear that people will assume that they are a douchebag.

The result is that whatever initial popularity Ed Hardy t-shirts had among douchebags has turned into an exclusive association with douchebags.

To wit:

A couple of months ago, my 7-year-old son was wearing a tattoo-style t-shirt from Target. An acquaintance asked me “oh, do you like Ed Hardy?” I hadn’t even realized that there was anything Ed Hardy-ish about the t-shirt! I was in a quandary! Was this guy asking me if I was trying to make my son into a douchebag because I think douchebags are cool? Did he just not know that Ed Hardy shirts were associated with douchebags? I didn’t want to directly refer to the Ed Hardy/douchebag connection in case the guy really liked Ed Hardy or something and/or thought douchebags were somehow worthy of emulation.

So I just said “Not particularly. He just likes that shirt.” So I suppose I left the question of whether my second grader is a proto-douchebag open, but what are you gonna do?

Sad thing is that I actually really like the way Ed Hardy stuff looks.  
Incidentally, I was looking through the OP’s first thread on the topic, and came to an outstanding definition of what makes a douchebag. I’ll repeat it here for reference:

> [@What makes a douchebag?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-douchebag/513735/15):
>
> So I think the GenY definition of douchebag as an muscular, tan, Ed Hardy-wearing guy with slicked hair is funny, but too narrow. A douchebag is a narcissistic guy who thinks he’s cool, and surrounds himself with guys who dress, look and think just like him. He’s superficially attractive but lacks depth. He’s oblivious to his douchy appearance and behavior. He’s probably talking loudly on his cell phone in an inappropriate place right now.

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