From on the sidelines to Off Season, Kristin Juszczyk is changing the game.
Courtesy of John Locher, Associated Press
With the Super Bowl approaching, I am already anticipating the incredible outfits we will see, including those custom-made by the most fashionable football wife, Kristin Juszczyk. In early January, Kristin announced that she would be teaming up with British entrepreneur and fashion designer Emma Grede to launch Off Season, a sports apparel brand featuring her popular designs.
To celebrate her newest achievement, we’re taking a look at the incredible rise of Kristin Juszczyk and how her unique designs have changed the game.
Courtesy of Gregg DeGuire, Variety via Getty Images
Fans of the San Francisco 49ers have known about Juszczyk since 2017, when her husband, fullback Kyle Juszczyk, signed a deal with the team, moving the couple to the Bay Area and sparking her fashion career. A real estate agent turned fashion designer, Kristin began by creating unique gameday outfits for herself to support her husband on the San Francisco 49ers.
Kristin was tired of repeating outfits and wearing similar designs over and over again. To her, the statement she could make through her outfit off the field excited her as much as seeing Kyle excel on the field.
She started small, reworking items like sweatpants and creating the brand Origin in San Francisco. Even from the beginning, Kristin’s goals have always remained the same: make clothing that stands out.
“Once I made those sweatpants, I just learned how much I love sewing and I love creating and it’s so rewarding and it became a later-in-life passion of mine,” she said.
Next came Designs by Kristin: Custom Reworked Clothing by Kristin Juszczyk, where our favorite designer began to make a name for herself. While Kristin had been dressing herself for Kyle’s games since 2014, she believed it was time to take her designs to the next level. Each week, she challenged herself to make a new outfit, transforming jerseys into puffer coats, blankets into jeans, and even transforming footballs into corsets!
“I knew that there was a gap in the market, and I knew that the only way for me to be able to potentially get an NFL license or to find a business partner is for me to place this in the right hands,” Juszczyk said to Vogue.
Spoken like a true businesswoman.
Juszczyk used her social media, specifically her Instagram and TikTok accounts, to showcase her design process and the finished product on the sidelines. Her designs started to catch the eye of news outlets and sports social media pages, highlighting her style and her creativity.
Designs by Kristin even caught the eye of some of the biggest stars who happen to be huge NFL fans.
Courtesy of Brittany Mahomes
Last season, stars, including Deebo Samuel, Simone Biles, Olivia Culpo, Taylor Lautner, Brittany Mahomes, and Taylor Swift, all rocked Kristin’s signature jersey puffer coats and vests for the football games they attended. These icons brought Kristin’s designs to a whole new level.
In February 2024, just weeks after Taylor Swift was seen with Brittany Mahomes in their matching puffers, Juszczyk reached a licensing deal with the NFL, per Sportico, to allow her to use its logos on her jackets.
Game changer.
Kristin’s designs blew up overnight, with the designer gaining hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram and a new audience to design for.
Courtesy of Off Season
This January, Juszczyk made her biggest announcement yet: Off Season. Launched on January 7, the online brand is “a collection of elevated apparel for sports fans made possible through a collaboration with the NFL Players Association,” as reported by Vogue. Off Season will feature merch for five NFL teams, including the San Francisco 49ers, Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions, and Buffalo Bills.
“Men have woken up to women’s sports and that creates an opportunity for women to be successful in the business of sports, sports merchandising, sports licensing, and building a company in this space,” Grede said.
Juszczyk’s new venture bridges the gap between luxury items and sports merchandise, especially for women. Her dream — to give fans the opportunity to wear more than just the typical jersey or pullover sweatshirt — has come true, with Off Season anticipating new customers and growth.
But her biggest fan of all? That would be her husband.
“I’m so proud of her,” Kyle said. “I think she’s extremely talented, and the things she’s putting out there are one of a kind. I’m really happy to see her get that credit.”
We are, too.
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