T-shirt designs and posters hide every wooden wall that is not already covered by paint-filled shelves. Piles upon piles of colorful printing screens seem to be at war with boxes of shirts for floor space. In the middle of this chaos of creativity sits the screening press, its many arms stretching to the roof of the garage and hiding upon first glance the computer desk tucked in the corner and covered with notes.
It is out of these clusters of half-used, open paint buckets, piles of cobweb-collecting screens and the enterprising visions of Tyler and Michelle Madsen that the clothing line of Love Nail Tree is produced.
Edgy, passionate and audacious, Love Nail Tree pushes the boundaries of typical Christian clothing lines and strives to make a difference, using bold, trendy clothing to do it.
Tyler Madsen, 24, and his wife of 8 months, Michelle, 23, operate Love Nail Tree entirely out of their one-car garage in Whittier, designing and screen-printing everything by hand. The company was born out of Tyler’s conversion to Christianity at 18, “cold turkey,” as he put it, by an evangelist at Starbucks. After, he was so excited to share Christ that he took iron-on designs and created shirts to spark conversation about his new faith. Love Nail Tree evolved from that.
“I had this passion to start something, like an entrepreneurial spirit, so that merged with the T-shirt thing and this new faith,” Tyler said. In 2004, Tyler took the plunge and got a loan for new screen-printing equipment, spending over $20,000 on it. The company also found its name, which Tyler said is short for Love Nailed to a Tree, or Jesus Christ.
“Jesus is love nailed to a tree,” he said.
Michelle came onto the scene in 2007 and the differing personalities of the couple have complemented each other well in their growing business. Calling himself the dreamer and entrepreneur, Tyler admits that he sometimes has struggles with procrastination and focus. Michelle keeps her creative husband organized and motivated.
“That’s why this works so well,” Tyler explained with a warm smile at his new wife.
Both have become well acquainted with the struggles of owning and building a business.
“Its rough when you employ yourself,” Tyler said as he ran his hands through his coffee-brown hair that reaches almost to his bearded chin. “You have to motivate yourself to get up and do what you have to do.”
“An equal struggle would probably be not being able to take a beak from it; there is no 9-5 here,” Michelle added.
Like many Christian companies that are more mainstream, Love Nail Tree struggles sometimes to find a balance between being subtly Christian while still making a difference for Christ.
“With the arts, a lot of times you get so much pressure from the Christian community,” Tyler said, adding that it seemed that if the “gospel isn’t fully, blatantly in what you are doing, then its like you’re selling out.”
He admits that it is a rough line that they walk.
“We definitely want to spread the gospel. Like that’s how it started and that’s still who we are as people.”
Much of that goal is realized in their lifestyle — when they are different than everyone else at events and people notice.
“The biggest compliment they give us is ‘you guys are Christians and you’re not judgmental’,” Michelle explained.
In many cases, the other vendors had bad impressions of Christians, and Tyler and Michelle have worked to change that.
And while what they believe is in their shirts, many of which are very evocative and have strong underlying meanings, they still constantly ask themselves, “Is this what God would want, for us to not be so blatant, or would he want us to be blatant?”
Eventually, the company hopes for their line to make it into stores. Love Nail Tree has worked alongside musicians such as Delta Spirit and Jon Foreman to design T-shirts.
“I have such huge inspiration from lyrics,” Tyler passionately confessed.
Michelle points to the shirt he is wearing, which depicts a man holding a sign in front of his face with the Cold War Kids lyrics, “You wanna help someone you gotta be a no one.”
The Madsens also have a passion for working with nonprofit organizations, and many Love Nail Tree shirts have messages that line up the messages of these organizations. Many nonprofits are largely funded by the sale of merchandise, and Tyler and Michelle want to help expand the markets of these organizations.
Tyler is excited to think about getting shirts into the mainstream and having consumers buy the shirts, not realizing at first that they are supporting a cause.
“And then they find out, well actually this shirt is an iceberg of meaning,” he added with a smile.
Both Tyler and Michelle still maintain part-time jobs waiting tables to help make the loan payments on the equipment. They also screen-print for other people on the side, including many of the shirts for Biola’s mission teams.
Tyler Poe, co-leader of the Uganda team, had his team shirts printed by the Madsens and praised them for the excellent work they did as well as for Love Nail Tree’s heart as a company.
“We talked about the impact his company can have on non-Christians just through wearing his clothing line,” Poe said. “He seemed eager to make an impact on the world for Jesus Christ through the messages of his T-shirts. I have already re-ordered and am considering what other needs I might be able to fill through his company.”
Although the road has not always been smooth, Tyler and Michelle Madsen continue to dream big amid the long hours and paint-stained clothing. Michelle is thankful for the success the company has already experienced.
“We’re being blessed by God, like, we haven’t sought out any jobs but we’ve been so busy like people just come to us and its by word of mouth and I just think that’s such God’s provision.”
