Artists on Main Street

A lot of the printed merch you’ll find in the boutiques, pizzerias, and candy shops that make up the “main streets” in our area was printed by Rad Shirts Custom Printing. You may have driven by their workshop on Route 71 in Manasquan a thousand times and never noticed it, but you’ve certainly seen their work, whether it’s on the little groms of Summertime Surf School and Pink Pineapple Surf & Skate, the ladies who love Waterlily, or the devotees of Jean Louise Candies.

You may even recognize owner Ryan Wade’s signature hand-drawn comic-style illustrations. Ryan started the business with his now wife, Lauren, in 2005. But Rad Shirts can and does print whatever their customers need. It’s an operation that started small, with one silk-screen press in Ryan’s Manasquan garage, and has grown over more than 20 years through steady word of mouth, returning business, and expanded capabilities. In 2011, they added a second screen press and a direct-to-garment printer, which is like an inkjet printer on fabric. The ink is water-based and soft to the touch, so it “doesn’t feel different than the shirt,” Ryan explains.

Humble Beginnings

Ryan and wife Lauren met as art students at Boston College. They admit they were aware upon graduation that “art isn’t really a job,” and bought the first screen press in 2005 to start selling their own artwork on shirts. The business evolved into doing custom orders for events, fundraisers, and merch for businesses.

Ryan had grown up in New York City and spent summers in Sea Girt, bodysurfing, going to Junior Guards, and eventually becoming a Sea Girt lifeguard for 20 years. To add to his local bona fides, he also bartends at Parker House. Lauren grew up in Washington D.C., but was happy to settle so close to the sea. She really leaned into life in “the garden state” and has cultivated a huge garden, participating in the Sea Lavender Club garden tour. She loves to comb the beach for shark teeth and rare stones, and is amazed by our coastal environment. “So much of the coast was covered in water, and there are so many fossils. There are amazing geological features because of that.”

Ryan’s network of connections from years of growing up in the community was one of the key factors to the organic growth of their company. Just after they had bought the press, Ryan’s friend Shaun McGrath started Summertime Surf, and he needed shirts. “It was 2006, that was one of those businesses that when they started, we started. We still print shirts for them,” Ryan explains, noting that they have grown from a small start up to a surf school with locations in four beach towns. There is an ethos of mutual support in the community. “If we are printing the shirts for the surf shop, that’s where we are going to buy our gear,” says Ryan.

Shopping Local

One of the benefits of working with a local company like Rad Shirts is that customers can come in and see, touch, and feel all their options. Rad Shirts offers an online portal for custom jobs and can turn orders around quickly, just like any online printing service. But being able to choose the exact t-shirt or specialty item, or browse a large collection of samples and styles gives them an edge. 

“In the shirt business, there are so many different factors in just placing an order. What type of fit, what type of cotton, how many. It helps to see what you are spending your money on, come in, and feel it. It’s very hands on.” Lauren explains, “We are visual learners ourselves. We want to offer that same experience to other people. Customer service is just part of it. It’s our own product and we feel so passionate about it.”

They still sell their own line of printed t-shirts featuring Ryan and Lauren’s original illustrations. And they love to design custom artwork for their clients, who seek out their signature hand-drawn style. The Spring Lake Police Department has given them carte blanche to create their touch-a-truck t-shirts.

They run a mailer design contest every year. They invite people to submit artwork, and the winners will be printed on the mailing envelopes they ship their shirts out in—“which are all eco-friendly, non-plastic, and compostable,” Ryan adds.

For two young artists who weren’t sure they could do art for a living, Ryan and Lauren have built a business in art and craft. Their artwork now even lives among us on the backs of people just walking down the street. Their work is a part of the community, unique to this landscape, like the shark teeth on the beach.

To learn more about Rad Shirts Custom Printing, visit www.radcakes.com.