SANTA CLARA, California. — The San Francisco 49ers had a bye in the opening round of the playoffs, but that didn’t mean Kyle Juszczyk had the weekend off.
The team’s outfielder sprang into action after his wife, Kristin, managed to unite three major journalists — Taylor Swift, the NFL and the winter storms that were hitting the nation — when Swift confidently walked into Kansas’ frozen Arrowhead Stadium City wearing a jacket that Kristin had made.
Swift and her legion of followers wield enormous influence and can send social media sites into a frenzy. And her long red puffer jacket—adorned with the number 87 of her boyfriend, Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs—did just that.
For Juszczyk, it was the equivalent of a five-touchdown day. They had heard that the singer-songwriter planned to wear the jacket but they weren’t sure. Kyle said they were watching on television from their San Jose home Saturday afternoon when cameras caught Swift, protected by his jacket and white cap, exiting a golf cart before the Florida Wild Card playoff game began. Chiefs vs. Miami Dolphins. .
.@taylorswift13 comes for her #NFLPlayoff debut. ❤️#MIAvsKC – 8pm ET on Peacock
Also available on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/Ugb1URaSoc—NFL (@NFL) January 14, 2024
“Happiness, appreciation,” he said of their reaction. “I’m so excited for (Kristin) because I know how hard she worked, how hard she grinded. Seeing Taylor wear it – and she looked amazing – was amazing. “We were so happy in our house.”
Subsequently, Kyle became part hype man, part public relations representative, part Internet watchdog. I received calls and texts from members of the media eager for the scoop on the blowfish. And he scoured social media, making sure Kristin received credit for the instantly famous jacket. At one point, NBC announcers said that Swift is so famous that she could just call Nike and have them make a custom jacket for her.
“It was like, ‘Argh, let’s go!’ “We need to let these people know that it was all Kristin,” said Kyle, who noted that the network later corrected the mistake.
He arrives with his jacket made by Kristin Juszczyk
— Kyle Juszczyk (@JuiceCheck44) January 14, 2024
Since Swift’s entrance into the stadium, Kristin has gained more than 450,000 followers instagram. Kyle also described a wave of media attention, so much so that Kristin decided not to do any interviews this week. They heard from every outlet, from Vogue, which impressed Kristin, to ESPN, which was important to Kyle.
“Adam Schefter doesn’t tell her anything,” he said. “I had to explain: this is a big problem in the world of football. And that was one of the coolest things that came out of it: it brought two different worlds together. She interested the world of football, the world of fashion, the Swifties. They all came together and 99.9% were really positive. So I was really happy to see it.
The wind chill temperature was minus 27 degrees in Kansas City on Saturday, yet Swift managed to radiate when she arrived at the stadium, thanks in part to her custom-made down jacket.
That’s why Kristin started designing play clothes. When she and Kyle started dating 10 years ago, she realized that supporting her football-playing boyfriend meant dressing like everyone else at the stadium. The standard fan uniform was, well, uniform. So she started cutting up Kyle’s size 44 shirts and shaping them into something more elegant: a upper part of the corset OR miniskirt for a game in early September, a down jacket for the playoffs. The theme: the red zone meets the red carpet.

Kristin Juszczyk joined her husband, 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk, at the Pro Bowl in Las Vegas last year. (Kirby Lee/USA Today)
His designs got a boost in November when he sent out a pair of white, Patrick Mahomes-themed ones trousers to Brittany Mahomes, the wife of the Chiefs quarterback. Here’s who passed on the coat Swift wore on Sunday.
In December, gymnast Simone Biles wore one green vest which Kristin remodeled from the jersey of Biles’ husband, Green Bay Packers safety Jonathan Owens. There’s no word on whether the jersey will reappear at Levi’s Stadium on Saturday when Owens and the Packers face the 49ers.
Kristin also approached 49ers receiver Deebo Samuel, one of Kyle’s most fashionable teammates, about wearing one of her designs. According to Samuel, her initial idea was to make Samuel a jacket with his number on it, which he rejected.
“I said, ‘If you make me one (Brock) Purdy, I’ll wear it,’” he said.
So he did, modeling a vest which not only included Purdy’s number 13, but also had “MVP” emblazoned in several places. Samuel said he received the jersey early in the season, but chose to wear it the week after Purdy’s four interceptions against the Baltimore Ravens, a show of faith in his quarterback.
Dressed in his Sunday vest 🔥@19problemz X #SFvsWAS pic.twitter.com/lfWSuYX3aV
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) December 31, 2023
Last weekend, meanwhile, proved to be a double whammy for Kristin. While she was making quilts for Swift and Brittany Mahomes, actor and Michigan native Taylor Lautner contacted her and asked for a Detroit Lions-themed jacket he could wear to Detroit’s playoff opener.
His creations are usually accompanied by a short video that he posts on his Instagram or TikTok accounts. They feature some cuts from his shears, some stitching and – voilà! —the garment is complete. The clips last a few seconds and often end with the celebrity wearing the outfit. The one about Lautner’s jacket ends with him excitedly opening the package like a kid smashing open a Nintendo box on Christmas morning.
Breezy videos don’t capture the effort involved. Kyle said that some mornings he will wake up at 3 or 4 a.m. and find that his wife is not in bed but is downstairs working on one of his projects. Getting Lautner his jacket, which incorporates Lions pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson’s jersey, was also an adventure.
Kristin shipped the jacket overnight via FedEx, but the package was delayed in Memphis, Tennessee, due to the same storms that hit Kansas City. Kyle said Kristin was able to contact someone at the top of the FedEx chain, who told them “their mission was to deliver that package to (Lautner).”
(In another melding of worlds, FedEx founder and chairman Fred Smith is the father of former Atlanta Falcons coach Arthur Smith, and FedEx’s chairman and CEO is Arthur’s older brother Richard. Kyle confirmed having spoken to a member of the Smith family.)
“They sent a truck to pick him up in Memphis,” Kyle continued. “The truck broke down. They sent another truck. And then they literally handed it to (Lautner) on the sideline.
All of which begs the question: Who will be the next celebrity to wear one of Kristin’s knit designs? Kyle wouldn’t say if there were any other surprises in store during the playoffs, though his backfield partner, Christian McCaffrey, revealed that a drawing for his girlfriend, Olivia Culpo, is in the works. That would be another terrific boost: Culpo, after all, is a model and former Miss Universe winner with 5.3 million Instagram followers.
However, it will be difficult to top Swift, who has 279 million Instagram followers and the influence of a queen.
“It’s crazy,” Kyle said. “He It’s crazy how powerful a person is.”

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(Top photo by Taylor Swift: Ed Zurga / Associated Press)