A lot happened at this year's Super Bowl for Kristin Juszczyk.
It was a tough loss for her husband's team, the San Francisco 49ers. But it was also the culmination of weeks of frenzy over the clothes she handmade and wore to her NFL games. (The Super Bowl happened to be held on her 30th birthday.)
“This all started as a hobby for me,” Juszczyk says. His hobby, repurposing vintage team gear and turning it into one-of-a-kind items, eventually made international headlines.
From early January to mid-February (roughly the same time as the NFL playoff season), her Instagram followers increased by 1 million. Taylor Swift and Simone Biles wore puffer jackets designed by Juszczyk while cheering on their football partners. (Her husband is 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk.) She has a licensing agreement with the NFL that allows her to use the league's logo on her clothing.
Juszczyk spent the next few months figuring out how to expand her business to make things that any fan could buy and wear, rather than just taking requests from fellow WAGs and famous fans (who she says are her “bread and butter”).
She branched out into other sports as well. For example, she designed a vest for basketball player Caitlin Clark. This weekend, the winner of the Indy 500 will receive Juszczyk's jacket. The same goes for Indy 500 anthem singer Jordin Sparks.
Juszczyk designed the Indy 500 jacket using vintage sweatshirts, T-shirts and plaid race flags.
“When I think of the Indy 500, I think of something very flashy,” said Juszczyk, who can't attend this year's race, one of the world's biggest sporting events.
Here, Ms. Juszczyk provides an update on her design career in an interview that has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Tell us about your perspective as a small business owner right now. How do you feel about branching out into another sport?
My goal has always been to offer my designs to fans of every event. I didn't want to limit myself to just the NFL because I think there are fans in every sport, league and club who want fresher, more fashion-forward designs.
I'm just putting my head down and trying to get this business going and get designs into the hands of my fans. This is my first foray into the licensing world and I'm learning something new every day.
What do you think makes your work resonate with people?
As a designer, if you're not wearing the clothes you design, who is? I'm a die-hard fan and I go to all of my husband's games, but about five years into his career, I realized I didn't want to rotate the same four outfits. I wanted to try my hand at designing something unique.
When did you make your first jacket?
I started sewing about 5 years ago. One Halloween day, we wanted to be Justin and Britney at the AMAs, a full denim costume. I couldn't find any online, so I bought a bunch of old denim pants and started cutting them up. I bought a sewing machine and learned how to use it on YouTube. It came to me naturally.
Then I decided to make sweatpants for Kyle to wear to games, and it just snowballed from there. I continued to challenge myself to learn how to make shirts, skirts, and blazers. All this went crazy when I made down vests and down jackets. That attracted the world's attention. But it all started with a Halloween costume.
in Your online postsyou make Score of Exhibition of works That goes into these parts.
I think it's cool for people to know that I don't have a fancy studio. I am sewing at the table tennis table. This is another reason why it resonates with people. Because I can relate to it a lot. People are doing projects at home all the time.
How did you approach designing this Indy 500 jacket?
I'm always trying to expand my skill set, and I'd never designed a bomber like this before, but I wanted to give it more of a “race car” feel.” I feel like I've gotten into a rut with making puffer fish.
I've thrown in a little easter egg. There was a very famous moment in 1985 when Danny Sullivan called “Spin and Win”. If you look at the jacket, you can see that the flag is rotating.
I'm looking forward to seeing who wins. This year, a female racer named Katherine Legge will appear. We're rooting for everyone, but it would be really cool to see her win that jacket.