Community Highlights: Meet D.J. Switzer of Added Time Outfitters

Today we’d like to introduce you to D.J. Switzer.

Hi D.J., thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Added Time Outfitters can trace its roots back to the early 2000s when I and my fellow co-founder, Nick Farmwald, were college soccer teammates. United by our shared lifelong passion for the beautiful game and the culture and gear that surrounds it, we remained close after school despite drastically different career paths on very opposite sides of the world.

Nick found work in the world of engineering, with spells in China and Japan before landing in Northern Kentucky. He got his feet wet in start-ups while abroad, launching a lifestyle brand centered around recycled-plastic belts.

I stayed closer to home, primarily working in marketing and branding while also moonlighting as a part-time soccer journalist. After time spent in semi-professional soccer and helping to organize the local soccer scene, I was brought on board to run digital and design for professional soccer club FC Cincinnati during their rise to Major League Soccer. In addition to running the club’s digital properties and branding initiatives — including uniform design — I also managed the relationship with the club’s independent supporters groups.

After leaving the club in 2018, Nick and I spent a lot of time discussing our unique combination of strengths and experiences. Nick brought detailed knowledge of manufacturing and lifestyle start-up intricacies. And I brought an intimate familiarity with marketing to and designing for American soccer’s growing horde of passionate supporters.

Following a year of studying the gaps in the existing soccer lifestyle marketplace, and working on brand concepts, we settled on a product that we felt could provide us a good launching point for a new brand: wristbands.

We launched Added Time Outfitters in August of 2019 with five original wristband designs. Since then, we’ve introduced a further 70 wristbands for club teams and national sides from 19 countries, plus a dozen stickers, a collaboration cap with another soccer lifestyle brand, and a handful of custom designs with various soccer organizations.

Surprisingly, sales grew exponentially for us during the pandemic thanks to targeted social marketing. Orders have continued to pour in from all 50 states and over a dozen countries. We’ve seen revenue continue to grow in 2021, have expanded into retail, and are looking also to grow our product offerings to include apparel.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
No road is perfectly smooth — and that’s especially true with start-ups. But we’ve been lucky in that the bumps we’ve experienced have proven important learning experiences for Added Time thus far.

Botched production runs have taught us to better understand our manufacturing processes and reassess our sourcing options. Shipping mishaps forced us to diversify our offerings to meet customer needs. Experimenting with a mix of targeted social marketing and in-person events, some hits and some misses, continues to teach us how to better reach our target audiences.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Nick and I really only wanted to approach creating a soccer-inspired lifestyle brand if we did something unique. It’s a competitive space where there are already a plethora of people making cool things; we didn’t want to be just another soccer t-shirt company.

That’s part of the reason we honed in on kicking things off with wristbands.

There aren’t really any other companies that focused on offering a soccer-specific take on wristbands. Too, if designed well, wristbands could easily complement existing fan gear or be worn as a fashion accessory away from the game. If priced correctly, especially when compared to pricey replica jerseys and licensed apparel, we could offer a product attractive to Gen Z and the Millenials alike.

But we also knew we needed something more to help soccer fans make an emotional connection with our products.

Supporters of the beautiful game are notoriously loyal. They bond over iconic memories and shared glories. They revel in being “in the know” about their favorite teams. The question for us became, “How can we incorporate those concepts into something so small as to be worn on a wrist?”

Eventually, that developed into the concept of integrating a famous match timeline into one side a reversible wristband, marking the goals along the circumference. The rest of the design would take inspiration from each team’s rich history, including their stadiums, uniforms, brands, fans, and hometowns. With over 70 designs at the time of writing, our wristbands now encompass some of the most famous goals, moments, and matches in the history of the game.

Over the last year, we’ve slowly started expanding our product offerings beyond wristbands. Stickers have proven popular with our target audience, and we’re exploring apparel that would fit in perfectly at the pub, in the terraces, and social gatherings.

As the designer behind the project, it’s been a monumental undertaking. There have definitely been times where I’ve felt like my well was near empty. But it’s fun now to look at our stock shelves and see thousands of wristbands making their way onto the wrists of fans across the country.

Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Given that soccer is such a central focus for my life, much of the media I consume and produce hovers around that space.

As it turns out, my longest-running soccer project is actually a podcast and blog called “Wrong Side of the Pond”. Serving as the vehicle that launched my career in the world of soccer, I’ve covered MLS Cups and World Cup qualifiers, using my connections to the sport tell stories about the rise of American soccer and the culture around it. The podcast, co-hosted by my friend Jeremy Lance, is in its ninth season and primarily focuses on the English Premier League and American soccer matters.

As for what I listen to, “Football Ramble Daily” has been my longtime favorite and provides an entertaining take on the English game. “The Scuffed Podcasts” deep dives on the U.S. men’s national team with some laughs mixed in. And “The Best Soccer Show” covers American soccer culture top-to-bottom.

When it comes to creative inspiration and keeping up with trends, I follow a wide variety of outlets. Soccer Bible provides complete coverage of the latest trends and offerings in the world of soccer apparel and gear. Likewise, I keep an eye on Hypebeast to watch what’s happening with the latest streetwear fashion trends. Creative Bloq and Branding, Publishing & Opinion are my two go-to resources for design inspiration.

Pricing:

• Each reversible wristband costs just $12
• Wristbands are available with free shipping

Contact Info:

• Email: contact@addedtimeoutfitters.com
• Website: addedtime.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/addedtimeoutfitters/
• Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/addedtimeoutfitters
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/addedtimeoutfit