There aren’t many people quite like San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle on or off the football field. When he suits up and heads onto the gridiron, Kittle is simultaneously the perfect modern tight end — an extra offensive lineman who also has soft hands and can run routs like a slot receiver — with one heck of a mean streak and someone whose joy for the game radiates through the television screen.
Off of it, Kittle can’t help but come across as someone who has a whole lot of fun doing, well, everything. The latest example of this came when he and his wife, Claire, teamed up with Zenni to drop an eyewear collection inspired by a number of things close to them — the frames include names like “Hawkeyes” (the pair met when both were students at the University of Iowa) and “The People’s Phrase” (George, a well-documented wrestling fan, was given the nickname “The People’s Titan” by none other than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson).
Uproxx Sports caught up with Claire and George via Zoom from their temporary home in Glendale, where the Niners have been situated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to discuss the line, their love of glasses, life in Arizona, and professional wrestling.
How’d you two get involved with Zenni, and is teaming up on something like this common for you, or was this unique for the project you have going on with them?
Claire: Well, he worked with Zenni last year and they are a sponsor of the 49ers, so that’s kind of how the relationship started. Super organically, and then from his relationship with them last year, this kind of ballooned our collection/collaboration together.
George: It’s really our first thing that we got to work on together to this scale, which has been really fun, from the starting process, talking about what we wanted to do, and then going through a whole bunch of frames, lenses, the whole shebang — bunch of categories and getting to pick out our favorites and then seeing Zenni help us turn those sketches or those ideas into real glasses. From the pair that I’m wearing, to the pair of she’s wearing, they got these done and it’s just really fun to be able to see that and be able to do that with my wife.
So, then just a general question, why glasses?
George: Well, me and Claire, when it comes to like marketing and stuff, we try to be as authentic as possible, so to only do things that we use on a daily basis or that we support. Sunglasses are something I wear to every single football game. I wear them every time I drive to work. She wears them everyday she drives, and it just seemed like an obvious choice and it was an obvious decision when we wanted to work together. And like Claire said, it was organic through the Niners and it was awesome. We jumped at the opportunity, because like I said, I wear glasses almost every single day, so I might as well have some fun with it.
Claire: Yeah, and it’s just an easy, fun accessory that can change an outfit completely. So if I’m in the stands watching him, I want to have different glasses every single game. So, if I create the frame, but I love the frame so much and then I’m working on my computer at home, I want to have the blue light [blockers] inside. So then I need the Zenni pair in the sun, and then in front of the computer for the blue light blockers. So that was kind of fun, too.
Having fashionable glasses, is this something that’s always been an interest for both of you individually, or are you like me where for the longest time you were like, “Okay, these cost 10 bucks for the frames, I just need them to see. I’ll go with those”?
George: Well, luckily for me, I don’t have to wear prescription glasses. So that’s always been nice for me, but I’ve always worn sunglasses, really my whole life. And circular glasses are something that I’ve been a huge fan of, you can’t really go wrong with aviators. So it just was like, it made sense, like, “Hey, you want to make sunglasses?” And I was like, “Yeah. Why would I not want to make sunglasses? That sounds like a blast.”
Claire: Everybody loves sunglasses. There’s not one person who doesn’t love sunglasses.
George: I mean, how many pairs of sunglasses have you lost and had to get more?
Claire: And it’s always a happy experience when you have to go shopping for more.
That’s why I always go with cheap sunglasses, because I know that within a week it’s going to be like, “Oh, I lost another pair. I have to go end up getting a new pair.” Coming into this project, did you guys have some sort of vision of what you wanted it to be or was it really just, “We’ll start with a blank canvas, let it all play out and see what ends up happening?”
George: I think it was a little bit of both. They definitely helped us with some guidance. They said to us, “Hey, these are very popular frames that you see sells very well. These are maybe not so popular frames.” They kind of let us go through all those, even have our own ideas with it.
Claire: They gave us all of the intel, and they allowed us to be creative. Like George, he loves the circle sunglasses, or just frames. Not everybody loves those, particularly me. Those don’t look the best on me. So I was like, “No.”
George: I think they look great on you honey.
Claire: Thank you. I don’t want anything to do with those. I like the big, the loud, the statement ones. He does too. So they listened to both of our loud voices and created these awesome glasses for people.
In a video before the Super Bowl, George, you were asked how you would describe yourself and you said “goofy with a little bit of chaos.” Are there any frames in this collection that you think kind of sum that up?
https://www.instagram.com/p/CIRzTVvhhbT/
George: Oh, wow. Yeah, I do think that. What’s awesome is you can combine any frame that we make with any lens color, which is really cool. We have one called The People’s Frames. I was lucky enough to get The People’s Titan’s nickname from The Rock, and so I use a little bit on the sunglasses, and it’s all tortoise, kind of like Clarie’s, just different shape, and you can put in whether you want it to be the blocks, which is the blue light blockers, or a nice light tint, or the dark sunglasses. You can kind of be loud with it, because I think the tortoise kind of goes with everything if you want it to be sneaky, in my opinion, or you can put some bright frames on there and kind of be loud and say whatever you want to say with them. So I think those are some of my favorite ones. Claire, do you have any favorite ones?
Claire: I mean, I love all of them because we created them. These I have on are the Travelers. So this is the lighter tortoise, and I love that, but my favorite ones are called Lettey, which is my nickname he gave me, and those would be goofy with a little bit of chaos if that’s what we want to talk about. They’re just loud spotted and you can get them in three different variation colors, of the frame I believe. These are just cool. If anybody walked by you and you’re wearing these, if they’d be like, “Yeah, I’ve never seen those before. I love it. Go you. Way to be bold.”
So I’m interested, generally, in the world of fashion. As you two — you’ve grown up, you’ve gotten out of college, into the NFL, whatever else you all have going on in the spotlight, all those sorts of things — have you noticed your sense of style changing over the last couple of years of your life as you’ve been afforded opportunities to explore things a little bit more?
George: Well now I’d say one of my biggest things is I don’t wear $15 jeans and shirts sadly, which is what I used to always wear.
Claire: He still does on occasion.
George: When she’s not around, I do, but I mean, one of the biggest things for me was I became kind of a sneakerhead two years ago. Or, I like sneakers, I should say that. My collection of sneakers has definitely increased tenfold and I’ve gone from wearing Metcons with my going out outfits … I actually have a pair of shoes that looks good.
Claire: Because you care more.
George: I definitely care more, not wearing an outfit every single day that says “I Love Football” on it.
Claire: He’s matured in the fashion world. That’s what we’ll will say.
George: I’m learning.
Claire: As have I. I think we all have, as we grow up, right? You figure out what you like and what looks good on you, so.
So do you guys have any aspirations of finding ways to team up and create things, whether it’s in fashion, whether it’s outside of fashion, whether it’s Zenni, whether it’s anything more broadly. This is a really big question, but just anything under the umbrella of Georgia and Claire work together to do stuff?
Claire: Yeah. We’d love to.
George: A hundred percent. It’s been fun just being with Claire. We try to, whether it’s an issue or whether we’re problem solving, something like that, we always tried to attack it together. We try to bounce ideas off each other, and we agree on a lot of things. We don’t agree on some things, which is totally fine, but at the end of the day, when we get stuff done together, it’s really fun to take a step back and say, “Hey, that was us.” And we really like that. So yeah, moving forward, we’d love to work with other brands or create other things. At the same time, I think we’re trying to figure it out as we go, too, which is kind of a fun of it, because we’re figuring out together at the same time.
Claire: And keep it completely organic. Like we said before, something that really speaks to both of us, not just one of us, but I think in even all other marketing things that we’ve been involved in as a family, it’s been very collaborative, right? So I feel more comfortable when I’m with him and he feels more comfortable when he’s with me, and we know the other ones in the room, regardless of if it’s just him answering questions. And then for example, he maybe would get sent some photos after a photoshoot and he’ll be like, “Well, which one do you think is the best?”
George: Oh, she picks the photo. I’ve learned that.
Claire: And then I’ll give him five reasons why this one’s better than that one and why he should give this one a chance because of marketing standpoint.
George: Or she just doesn’t give me any reasons. And she goes, “This one.” I say “Yes.”
At a certain point, you were just like, “I’m doing it.”
George: Let’s go. Let’s ride.
Claire: It’s just fun. We just have fun with
You’re now the Glendale San Francisco 49ers. How’s that been for both of you, having to uproot head down to Arizona and get settled in a new place, especially in the face of everything else that’s going on right now, just personally with you guys and with this weird NFL season and everything else that’s happening?
George: It’s been different, because we got the notification that we weren’t allowed to play in Santa Clara anymore last Saturday, I think it was, and so the team was boarded on a plane to L.A. and I was at my apartment and I was going to watch the game from there because I didn’t travel, but getting that news, you’re kind of like, “Well, alright, well what are the options?” And you kind of brainstorm, you don’t really know, and they got back the next two days later and we had a whole game plan and it was cool just to see. I think the organization’s done a great job with how 2020, this whole season itself, has gone from the protocols to try to keep everybody safe, and they’ve done a fantastic job in this one as well moving an entire franchise, and given 24, 36 hours heads up and they moved us into an entirely new place.
And so it’s been, and it’s been great being in Arizona. Weather is fantastic, which is awesome. And what is a fun fact is, I mean, we got to get an Airbnb house in a place that we might not ever lived, but we’ll be here for probably three to four weeks, and it’s just been kind of fun. And I don’t know, for her, she had to pack up an entire apartment and put in a car and drive down here. So that’s just a kudos to her for being on top of all her stuff.
And then last question, totally out of left field, George, you mentioned The People’s Frames. What is the greatest wrestling match of all time?
George: The greatest wrestling match? Light versus darkness, man. Shawn Michaels versus The Undertaker. I know it’s tough for me. I’m late to the party when it comes to WWE, I’m super late. I watched The Rock growing up, and Stone Cold a little bit, but I really got into it halfway through college, and then I just was kind of a junkie for four or five years. I don’t know if it was my midlife crisis, but.
There’s so many great matches, but that one was really fun to see, because I think Shawn Michaels as a performer is just exhilarating. I wish I could see him. I wish I would have been more aware and been able to watch him in his prime because that was as fun. So, but the fact that I have the WWE Network so I can go back and watch that stuff. It’s really fun.
