This year’s Super Bowl meant a lot to Kristin Juszczyk.
It was a crushing loss for her husband’s team, the San Francisco 49ers. But it was also the culmination of weeks of interest in the clothes she handmade and wore to NFL games. (The Super Bowl also happened to take place on her 30th birthday.)
“This all actually started as a hobby for me,” said Ms. Juszczyk, whose hobby — repurposing vintage team gear into one-off pieces — eventually made global headlines.
From early January to mid-February (or roughly the NFL playoff season), her Instagram following grew by a million people. Taylor Swift and Simone Biles wore puffer jackets designed by Ms. Juszczyk as they supported their soccer-playing partners. (Her husband is Kyle Juszczyk, a fullback for the 49ers.) She signed a licensing deal with the NFL, allowing her to use the league’s logos on her clothing.
Ms. Juszczyk spent the ensuing months figuring out how to scale her business so that she was not only taking commissions from fellow WAGs and celebrity fans — her “bread and butter,” she said — but also making things that every fan can buy and wear. .
She has also branched out into other sports; for example, she designed a vest for basketball player Caitlin Clark. This weekend, the winner of the Indy 500 will receive one of Ms. Juszczyk’s jackets. That includes Indy 500 anthem singer Jordin Sparks.
Ms. Juszczyk designed the Indy 500 jackets with vintage sweatshirts, T-shirts and checkered race flags.
“When I think of the Indy 500, I think of a very loud design,” said Ms. Juszczyk, who cannot attend this year’s race — one of the world’s biggest sporting events.
Here, in an interview edited and condensed for clarity, Ms. Juszczyk provides an update on her design career.
Tell me how you see yourself now as a small business owner. How do you feel about expanding into another sports world?
My goal has always been to deliver my designs to fans of all different events. I’ve never wanted to pigeonhole myself just to the NFL, because I think there are fans across all sports, leagues and clubs who are looking for more fresh, fashionable designs.
I’ve just got my head down and trying to get this company off the ground and get designs into the hands of fans. This is my first time entering a recognized world, and I’m learning new things every day.
What do you think it is about your work that appeals to people?
As a designer, if you don’t wear your own designs, who will wear them? I’m a fan through and through. I go to all of my husband’s games and five years into his career I realized I didn’t want to alternate wearing the same four things. I wanted to push the needle and wear designs you couldn’t find anywhere else.
When did you make your first jacket?
I only started sewing about five years ago. One Halloween I wished we were Justin and Britney from the AMAs – the full denim outfits. I couldn’t find them online, so I bought some old jeans and started cutting them up. I bought a sewing machine, went on YouTube and learned how to use it. It came naturally to me.
Later, I decided to make a pair of sweatpants to wear to one of Kyle’s games, and things just snowballed from there. I continued to challenge myself to learn to make shirts, skirts and blazers. This whole thing got out of hand when I made the puffer vest and puffer jackets – that’s what caught the world’s attention. But it all started with a Halloween costume.
In your messages onlineyou make a point by show the work that goes into these pieces.
I think it’s cool that people see that I don’t have a fancy studio. I sew on my ping pong table. That’s another reason why this resonates with people: it’s very relatable. People do projects at home all the time.
How did you go about designing this Indy 500 jacket?
I always try to broaden my skills. I’ve never done a bomber design like this before, but I wanted it to feel more like a race car.” I got into a bit of a rut making puffers.
I threw in a little Easter egg: there was one very famous moment in 1985, with Danny Sullivan, called the ‘spin and win’. If you look at the jacket you will see that the flag is spun.
I’m curious who the winner is. There is a female racer this year, Katherine Legge. Our fingers are crossed for everyone, but it would be really cool to see her win that jacket.
