This yr’s Tremendous Bowl was many issues to Kristin Juszczyk.
It was a crushing loss for her husband’s workforce, the San Francisco 49ers. However it was additionally the end result of weeks of frenzied curiosity within the garments she made by hand and wore to N.F.L. video games. (The Tremendous Bowl occurred to happen on her thirtieth birthday, too.)
“This actually all began as a passion for me,” stated Ms. Juszczyk, whose passion — repurposing classic workforce gear into one-off items — finally made world headlines.
From early January to mid-February (or the N.F.L. playoff season, roughly), her Instagram following grew by a million individuals. Taylor Swift and Simone Biles wore puffer jackets designed by Ms. Juszczyk whereas supporting their football-playing companions. (Her husband is Kyle Juszczyk, a 49ers fullback.) She signed a licensing cope with the N.F.L., which allowed her to make use of the league’s logos on her clothes.
Ms. Juszczyk has spent the following months determining the way to scale her enterprise in order that she’s not simply taking commissions from fellow WAGs and well-known followers — her “bread and butter,” she stated — but additionally making issues that any fan should purchase and put on.
She has additionally expanded into different sports activities; she designed a vest for the basketball participant Caitlin Clark, for instance. This weekend, the winner of the Indy 500 shall be given considered one of Ms. Juszczyk’s jackets. So will the Indy 500’s nationwide anthem singer, Jordin Sparks.
Ms. Juszczyk designed the Indy 500 jackets utilizing classic sweatshirts, T-shirts and checkered racing flags.
“Once I consider Indy 500, I consider a really loud design,” stated Ms. Juszczyk, who isn’t capable of attend this yr’s race — one of many largest sporting occasions on the planet.
Right here, in an interview edited and condensed for readability, Ms. Juszczyk presents an replace on her design profession.
Speak to me about the way you see your self proper now as a small-business proprietor. How do you are feeling increasing into a special sporting world?
My purpose has at all times been to produce my designs to followers of all completely different occasions. I by no means wished to pigeonhole myself to simply the N.F.L., as a result of I feel there are followers in all sporting worlds and leagues and golf equipment which can be searching for extra recent, fashion-forward designs.
I simply have my head down, attempting to get this enterprise off the bottom and get designs into followers’ palms. That is the primary time I’m coming into a licensed world, and I’m studying new issues day by day.
What do you assume it’s about your work that resonates with individuals?
As a designer, in the event you’re not carrying your individual designs, then who’s carrying them? I’m a fan by means of and thru. I’m going to each considered one of my husband’s video games, and I noticed about 5 years into his profession that I didn’t wish to put on the identical 4 issues in rotation. I wished to push the needle and put on designs you couldn’t discover anyplace else.
When did you make your first jacket?
I began stitching solely about 5 years in the past. One Halloween, I wished us to be Justin and Britney from the AMAs — the complete denim outfits. I couldn’t discover them on-line, so I purchased a bunch of previous denim pants and began chopping them up. I purchased a stitching machine and went on YouTube and realized the way to use it. It got here naturally to me.
Later, I made a decision to make a pair of sweatpants to put on to considered one of Kyle’s video games, and it snowballed from there. I saved difficult myself to learn to make shirts and skirts and blazers. This complete factor went loopy after I made the puffer vest and the puffer jackets — that’s what obtained the world’s consideration. However it began with a Halloween costume.
In your posts on-line, you make a degree of displaying the work that goes into these items.
I feel it’s cool for individuals to see that I don’t have a elaborate studio. I’m stitching on my Ping-Pong desk. That’s one more reason this resonates with individuals: It’s very relatable. Individuals do initiatives at residence on a regular basis.
How did you method designing this Indy 500 jacket?
I’m at all times attempting to broaden my talent set. I’ve by no means made a bomber design this fashion, however I wished it to really feel extra “racecar.” I form of obtained right into a rut making puffers.
I threw in just a little Easter egg: There was a really well-known second in 1985, with Danny Sullivan, referred to as the “spin and win.” In case you have a look at the jacket, you possibly can see that the flag is spun.
I’m excited to see who the winner is. There’s a feminine racer this yr, Katherine Legge. We’re rooting for everybody, however it could be actually cool to see her win that jacket.
