Ronnie Fieg, the mind behind Kith

The year was 1982 in Queens, New York, in a Jewish family of Persian immigrants, Ronnie Fieg was born. The boy grew up in a middle-class environment immersed in the urban culture of the city, where basketball, rap, and the sneaker universe were already part of everyday life.

In the 90s, New York was a transforming cultural epicenter, with hip hop expanding globally and sneakers becoming symbols of identity, especially among young people in the communities of Brooklyn and the Bronx, while the United States was living the magical years of the American dream.

It was in this scenario that Fieg began to have his first contacts with the world that would define his life.

At 13, he got a job as a stockboy at David Z., a shoe store chain founded by his cousin, David Zaken, located in Manhattan. There, in the back of the stockroom, among stacked boxes, Fieg began to observe how the industry worked even while still in the early stages of puberty; without a doubt, this moment served as a school for what we would see in practice a few years later.

Ronnie was confronted with empirical understanding of market turnover, consumer preferences, and the impact that good product curation could have.

From stockboy, Ronnie became a “Buyer,” or rather, the person responsible for the curation and purchase of products. This position opened up space for experimentation and direct contacts with brands.

Still in the 2000s, he started requesting small editions of exclusive sneakers. The most well-known case is the collaboration with ASICS on the Gel-Lyte III, in colors that did not exist in the original catalog.

In 2007, he convinced the brand to release 300 pairs in new palettes that quickly sold out. These releases revealed his eye for design and product curation, which perfectly understood how to tie together a design that was different from the market, but that at the same time addressed exactly what consumers were looking for. This model of collaborations was the embryo of what would later sustain Kith.

The foundation of Kith took place three years later, in 2011, in partnership with Sam Ben-Avraham, a veteran of New York retail, who had a stable perspective on the market.

The name came from “kith and kin,” an English expression for friends and family, signaling Ronnie’s desire to not just put retail at stake, but also to create a community around the project.

The first stores were opened in New York, initially within David Z. spaces, until they consolidated into their own units in Brooklyn and Manhattan. And while his cousin's store sold more sneakers, Fieg thought about expanding this from the beginning; it was essential at that moment to create proprietary products that carried the name of Kith. And it was at that moment that pieces were born which would become part of the streetwear dictionary, and replicated around the world.

It is impossible to discuss these pieces without mentioning the first and most striking one. Around 2015/16 there was a craze for jogger pants in culture, and the blame for this lies precisely with Ronnie Fieg, more specifically the “Kith Mercer Pant.”

Fieg observed daily how consumers folded or adjusted the cuffs of their pants to highlight their sneakers. He realized that there was an unmet demand for pants designed to showcase sneakers.

When Fieg opened the first store in 2011, there was a camouflaged pant in his inventory that needed a solution since it was too baggy. That’s when Ronnie thought of adapting its hem by adding an elastic cuff.

The pants were named Mercer in honor of the street where one of Kith's stores was located. Released in small batches, the piece had immediate demand. The jogger wasn't created by Fieg in the absolute sense, but he was one of the first to systematize it as a consumer item. The Mercer Pant was designed to have proportions that highlighted sneakers, using fabrics that balanced comfort and durability. This insight was crucial for Kith to stop being merely a sales space and to become a brand recognized for clothing design.

Other inaugural items helped consolidate this movement during the transition from 2011 to 2012. The Blue Label was the line that established this initial vocabulary of pieces mixed between the essential and Ronnie's design touch. Looking at these pieces today, we travel back to a time when five-panel caps, button-up shirts, and of course, jogger pants were in vogue.

It is also necessary to address the collaborations.

The Gel-Lyte III “Salmon Toe,” released in 2011, is often cited as the first sneaker officially associated with Kith, and it solidified Fieg's bond with ASICS. Next came projects with New Balance, Timberland, Clarks, Sebago, and Red Wing, exploring both sneakers and classic boots. Partnerships with Moncler, Versace, and Coca-Cola showed that Kith could navigate between distinct universes, from European luxury to the imagery of a soda brand associated with American pop.

From Ronnie, who began his career before the age of 15 in a shoe store, it is to be expected that his stores also became a fundamental part of the narrative. The Brooklyn unit, renovated in 2015 with a design by Daniel Arsham and Alex Mustonen of the Snarkitecture studio, brought a minimalist architectural aesthetic that directly dialogued with the photographic logic of social media.

That same year, Kith Treats was created, a cereal stand turned business within the store, inspired by Ronnie’s childhood habit. Today it’s common to see such initiatives in other stores, but not in 2015. A cereal store placed alongside retail was not the norm one would think of for stores in the same segment. This was yet another initiative taken by Fieg that broadened his presence beyond just being a clothing brand or retailer.

The global expansion began in the second half of the 2010s, with openings in Miami, Los Angeles, and later in strategic markets like Tokyo and Paris as emerging cultural hubs that embraced the brand worldwide.

Each flagship was designed as an experiential space, with architectural projects that expanded Kith's visual identity. In Japan, the reception found an already sophisticated audience in relation to sneaker culture, which was breathing Bape and Supreme daily during that period.

In Paris, the store needed to engage with European luxury without losing its New York character, executing a project that included a bar, a chandelier made of Air Max 1s, and a selection of luxurious furnishings.

Today, it has become unlikely to think of large constructions in our culture without considering Ronnie Fieg's project, which follows the same logical foundation in producing collections focused on the essential use of products while continuing to expand collaborations with emerging brands like ON, prominent public figures like Kaká, Scorsese, and traditional films like Jaws, Scarface, and Superman.

In September 2025, Ronnie has just announced the opening of Kith Ivy. It is a private club located in West Village, New York, with an expansion of the Kith concept beyond fashion, incorporating high-level consumption and an exclusive lifestyle, operating as a members-only club.

Inside, there will even be an Erewhon smoothie bar and the Café Mogador restaurant, along with tennis courts in partnership with the traditional Wilson, all signaling a cultural chain movement that spans from product design to the construction of a luxury community. The club's floor plan and images of the space have already appeared on Fieg's Instagram, where he stated:

“In recent years, I've developed a deep love for the game, and with that came the idea to create something New York has never had: a members club that combines luxury, lifestyle, and sport, bringing together people who share a passion for competition and camaraderie.”

Ronnie's journey signals things to be understood. The first is practical and material. His perspective formed between boxes and buyers, and this determines a technical obsession with fabric, weight, sizing, and finishing.

The second note is curatorial and strategic. Fieg transformed a singular consistency into every proposed project of Kith, both as a store and as a brand. In a market that demands more and more purpose and consistency, this technical and curatorial combination is the brand's main competitive advantage.