Business

HALE & HARDY DEAL

Ed Hardy has found a new business partner.

The tattoo-themed street-wear brand — favored by party-circuit celebs like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears — is selling a 50 percent interest to Iconix, a New York-based company that owns a slew of clothing labels including Joe Boxer, Rocawear and Badgley Mischka, The Post has learned.

Despite a tanked economy that has sapped demand for Ed Hardy’s high-priced togs, Iconix is paying $17 million for its half of the Ed Hardy brand and trademarks, comprised of $9 million in cash and $8 million in stock.

“The consumer’s coming back,” Iconix CEO Neil Cole told The Post in an interview yesterday. “This is going to be the first of a couple more acquisition opportunities.”

The brand’s namesake, Don Ed Hardy, spent most of his career burnishing a reputation as a legendary tattoo artist. But after licensing the Ed Hardy name to make tattoo-inspired clothing in 2003, fashion visionary Christian Audigier created a commercial phenomenon.

Royalties this year are expected to top $10 million.

Previously, Audigier had licensed the Von Dutch name to make the trucker hats that briefly became popular among celebs like Ashton Kutcher and Madonna.

However, Ed Hardy “is so much more than a fad,” Cole said. “It’s an iconic brand that really has become a lifestyle.”

The Ed Hardy name already has been slapped onto dozens of products other than clothes, including wine, energy drinks and mouthwash. Sources said Iconix is still weighing whether that strategy is a good one.

Either way, “as a working artist, I’m very keen to let my imagination take the brand further,” Don Ed Hardy said in an interview.

Hardy is likewise keen to get out the word: He’s not a fictional character, and a book about his designs will be released this summer.

“A lot of people ask, ‘Is this like Aunt Jemima or Betty Crocker?’ ” Hardy said. “But there’s a real human being here.”