Time is a precious commodity for Ronnie Fieg these days, thanks to his growing list of obligations.
For his cover shoot with FN last month at Kith’s Brooklyn, N.Y., headquarters, the founder, CEO and creative director carved out a two-hour window before he had to head to Madison Square Garden for a meeting as part of his gig with the New York Knicks.
“I do not have a minute past 11:30, not even 11:31,” Fieg said laughing, with a hint of urgency.
Nevertheless, he’s still ready to wax poetic about product. In between camera snaps, he reveals details about the shoes on his feet: a new-look Samba from his Clarks Originals x Adidas Originals partnership, executed in Kith’s “Regal Palette” hues. The palette, which features Kith’s Magma, Scarab and Navy colors, represent Fieg’s vision of modern luxury.
Here at the HQ, we’re on Fieg’s turf. He arrives to set straight from the gym, which is within walking distance. And home, he reveals, is just steps away from the office.
This is fitting, as Fieg has released with Kith a range of products essential to his own lifestyle — with sophistication and practicality that appeals to the masses.
Perhaps what’s most impressive, though, is his maverick quality. He can pull off something totally unexpected — and it always works. Take, for instance, casting legendary actor Brian Cox and comedy icon Jerry Seinfeld to promote seasonal apparel collections, or adding a Sadelle’s restaurant to his stores to create the ultimate brand experience.
Fieg has put his stamp on everything from footwear and apparel to skincare, BMWs and the NFL. As a result, the company has grown exponentially since its founding in 2011.
“I’ve never had the experience of managing a business of this size, and I can literally say that every day because we’ve had growth every day,” Fieg told FN during a phone call in mid-September. “I never imagined it getting to this point. I never imagined having the size of the staff that I have or the amount of stores that we have or being a global brand recognized in many countries. It’s crazy to think about.”
The company has been aggressive when it comes to expansion this year, especially during a time when most retailers have been trimming staff and pulling back on plans amid slumping sales.
Not Kith. On Sept. 22, it opened its much-anticipated Toronto flagship — the fourth new outpost added in 2023. (In March, Fieg told FN that this expansion was supposed to be staggered, but supply chain delays caused them to condense the rollout.)
The openings began in January with a Beverly Hills, Calif., store spanning 5,500 square feet (Kith’s second in Los Angeles). From there, it opened two stores in March: one in Miami in the city’s upscale Design District, and one in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood.
The Toronto flagship is significant, though, marking Kith’s entrance into Canada. The store spans nearly 11,000 square feet and employs luxurious materials throughout. It also features both a Kith Treats bar and a Sadelle’s restaurant, which have become highlights within its most recent new doors. And, as always, Fieg delivered a sneaker collaboration to commemorate the moment. This time, he reimagined the New Balance 1700, creating two colorways that are inspired by the city.
Addressing Kith’s Canada expansion, Fieg admitted jokingly that the decision to open there might have come with some internal influence.
“A dear friend of mine, Andy Oliver, has been on me for years to open something up north,” Fieg said with a laugh. Oliver, a Winnipeg native, was a longtime advisor to Kith and Fieg before joining the company as senior director of e-commerce in 2020.
Serious talks for a Toronto flagship began in 2021, and the Kith team searched for the ideal location for a year before landing on 78 Yorkville Ave. That diligent planning and search is emblematic of its meticulous approach to expansion.
“Toronto was an area we looked at for a long time. I feel like every major city in the world can benefit from a Kith experience. That doesn’t mean I’m going to open in every major city in the world,” Fieg said.
That also doesn’t mean he’s done growing — in fact, far from it.
“The globe becomes an interesting conversation as to how we plan to grow our business within each region. There’s no right or wrong answer. It’s just a question of bandwidth,” Fieg said. “We open, on average, a door and a half a year. To me, that’s a good average because we can put the team on the project feeling like all details are accounted for. These spaces are big, they have a large staff and there are logistics that need to be ironed out when you’re opening in a new region.”
Fieg said there are plans to open one more store before year’s end, and he emphasized that it’s going to be “very important to the company.”
THE GREAT BEYOND
As Fieg leads Kith into the future, he isn’t solely focused on retail. His goal is to engage all facets of its culture. And soon that will lead the company into an entirely new industry.
“We are going to get into hospitality next year. That’s the next step for the brand,” Fieg said. “It’s going to be hospitality through the lens of sport. The brand is rooted in a few different things, and the sport category is one that’s really important in my life and what I want the brand to represent in the future.”
He suggested that the experience could resemble the tennis-themed project that Kith and Wilson first launched in June 2022, which Fieg deems a huge success.
For the past two summers, Kith and Wilson have taken over Hampton Racquet, a family-owned boutique country club located in East Hampton, N.Y., and rebranded it as Kith Hampton Racquet. This included a club redesign, a takeover of the pro shop to feature Kith for Wilson products and the addition of a Treats bar.
As he reinvents the world of retail, Fieg continues to find other unexpected ways to deliver consumers his form of attainable luxury. For instance, in November 2022, the Knicks announced Fieg as its first-ever creative director. And then there’s 8th Street, the label within Clarks Originals that he launched in March 2021 featuring original silhouettes of his design.
Most notably, this year, Fieg brought together Adidas and Clarks Originals under the 8th Street imprint, reimagining the iconic Samba — the year’s hottest silhouette — with a crepe sole.
“We knew it was going to be a good release, but we were blown away by how massive the response was,” said Clarks Originals chief marketing and digital officer Tara McRae, who referred to this partnership as groundbreaking. “The insane excitement and desire for the product produced the need for an additional large pre-order, something we had not done before.”
Fieg promised there’s more to come with Clarks Originals and Adidas. “There will be an evolution with this partnership in the future,” he said.
A BIGGER FAMILY
Fieg is expanding the retail footprint and bolstering the brand’s breadth of products at a time when his personal responsibilities outweigh the professional. In 2021, he and his wife, Shir Fieg, welcomed their first daughter, Maia, into the world.
Professionally, this has encouraged him to become more efficient.
“I have to be more productive with the time I have, because on the weekends I’m with my wife and daughter. That is my priority,” Fieg said. “Over time, you become more efficient anyway, but fatherhood just shortened up the process of getting there.” Because of the company’s rapid growth, paired with newfound responsibilities at home, Fieg has begun to rely on his team more than ever.
His most trusted circle includes CFO Ivo Nikolov, COO Nick Annacone and director of content Austin Scotti.
“Adapting to growth has been the constant challenge we face,” Scotti said. “We’re not following a playbook. Each new challenge that presents itself is one that we must learn how to face together. Every day presents a new task, and every day we add a new line to our own playbook.”
Although he’s delegating more than ever before, there are some parts of the business that will forever be in Fieg’s hands. For instance, he will always have a say in product, and creative direction is his primary responsibility.
“I’m the orchestrator, I’m the conductor, ideating and then coaching through the process of getting things to the finish line,” he said. “I’ve gotten better over time in leading people, but the people have made me better.”
Fieg also is leaning on his team when it comes to bolstering the company’s community efforts through its Kinnect Foundation, which launched in June 2021.
AT THE HEART OF IT ALL
Ever a product guy, Fieg’s goal for Kith is simple: to have an unrivaled footwear wall.
“We have the best assortment in the world when it comes to 360 footwear — athletic, brown shoe, boots. We’ve gotten there, but sustaining it is very important,” he said.
To stay ahead of the pack, Fieg has assembled a team of footwear experts with a similarly trained eye. This includes Lance Dornagon, senior director of buying for footwear. “Lance is always out there meeting with new brands, and I have my ear to the streets as well,” Fieg said.
This is not lost on some of Kith’s most important brand partners.
“Ronnie is not only an exceptional brand visionary with meticulous attention to authenticity, he is also a world-class retailer. The blend of these two worlds has become somewhat of a lost art in sneaker culture,” said Chris Davis, New Balance chief marketing officer and SVP of merchandising. “Any brand would be lucky to be a part of this environment.”
Kith’s search to discover new talent recently led to a collaboration with loafer brand Blackstock & Weber, which is based out of Brooklyn. The two delivered a range of luxurious loafers handmade in Portugal and made with premium suede and full-grain leather.
Fieg said, “Working with them was important because instead of us making our own loafer, which we could do, I wanted to support someone I think is doing incredible work. Supporting new brands has always been an important part of what we do.”
He continued, “When we see something new and refreshing, our eyes are open. When the product is right, we use the brand or the retailer as a platform to let these guys get their shine.”
Fieg’s expertise will also yield several can’t-miss collaborations. During the shoot, he revealed what’s to come for the rest of 2023 and into early 2024, including looks with Timberland and Diemme. In terms of sneakers, he teased eye-catching collabs with New Balance and Kith Classics for Adidas Originals.
Fieg, however, isn’t quite ready to reveal them to the world. “No video of the footwear,” he said to FN’s videographer. “It’s OK for it to be in the background, but some of these don’t come out until the middle of next year.”
Lately, the casual sneaker market has shown some signs of softening. But the retail exec is not concerned. “The chatter has been about the lack of newness and technology, because brands got really comfortable with the business they were doing,” Fieg said. “But we’re on the bottom of that. I’ve been around long enough to know that it’s all cyclical and it’s going to be much more energetic when we ramp up — and that’s going to come soon.”
As for what’s next in terms of his own footwear partnerships, Fieg said he doesn’t have a bucket list. “I never think about a brand that I want to work with. I’ve done so much in footwear, and the catalog is incredible at this point. What has become important for me is the evolution of everything I’ve worked on and done.”
And to his mind, there has never been a misstep along the way — rather, everything is simply an opportunity to improve.
“I don’t have the personality that would let me say I would have done things differently,” Fieg said. “Anything we’ve done where we haven’t maximized the potential, we’ve always tweaked and adjusted and applied to the next project. We’ll tweak until we feel we’re the best versions of ourselves. And to be honest, in the last few years I feel like we have been the best versions of ourselves.”
