Kith’s Ronnie Fieg Hates Lines, Loves Scorsese and Just Might Fix Retail

Kith is one of the few stores in New York City that usually has a line around the block of eager spenders waiting to come in and drop money. I was surprised when Fieg told me he doesn’t like having a line of customers waiting. He feels like having the line prevents him from giving the customers the elevated experience he wants them to have. Kith gives their customers something special at a time that most retail operations seem to be falling apart. A product of this successful strategy, Kith just opened its first UK flagship on Regent St. in London featuring all the collections: Kith, Kith Women, Kith Kids, Kith Treats and their first restaurant, Ronnie's.

PAPER caught up with Fieg to chat and unpack the secret to his incredible success.

Where does the name Kith come from?

“Kith & Kin.” Which means friends and family. Kith means friends. Back when I first started the business 14 years ago, I felt like there was a very obnoxious way that my favorite shops were treating their consumers. They were alienating the consumer rather than making them feel like they’re at home.

That doesn’t sound very chic.

I remember taking my dad to go see a store—I’m not gonna mention what store.

I won’t mention it in the story if you tell me.

When me and my dad walked in, they shut the music off in the store until we walked out. That stuck with me for a long time. So, when I thought of opening a store I wanted everyone to feel like they were friends of the brand. That’s where the name came from.

So, you started working at 13. What made you want to start working? Why shoes? And was it legal to work at 13?

I had a shoe obsession like—footwear obsession when I was a kid.

Sneakers or all different kinds of shoes?

At first it was sneakers but when I started working at David Z it was mostly brown shoes and boots and I built a real passion for footwear as a whole when I started working there. I worked from the stock room to general buyer through my 15 years there.

Later in my career, I took it on as a responsibility of transitioning a brown shoe and boot retailer into athletic footwear. In the process of doing that, I had the opportunity to work on my own version or designs in footwear with some of these brands that really appreciated the growth that we had as buying it as a multi-brand.

ASICS was one of the first ones?

ASICS was the first brand to give me the opportunity.

I definitely bought some ASICS at David Z. In an almost neon grass green color. They were a moment.

That’s exactly what happened. I think that moment in time—the early 2000’s really evolved the spectrum of footwear to a whole different stratosphere.

You do the best collaborations. I hear you’ve done a Cigarette boat collab?

We released our summer collection with—it was inclusive of 3 boats that we worked on with Cigarette.

Is Cigarette the name of the company? I thought that was a style of boat?

Everybody thinks that, it’s just like Kleenex, right?

That’s so funny.

They’re actually the original boats that were in Miami Vice. The way that that brand evolved was really special so we worked on 3 boats that were upwards of $1.6-$2.4 million that had an incredible reaction and we actually sold a few boats. Then the following week we released a Superman capsule. There was a back and forth that I had with somebody on my Instagram page and it was because people hate what they don’t understand. You know? Others are fascinated by it because no company or brand has been able to work on both ends of the spectrum as consistently and as well as we have in creating incredible emotional content to bridge people to product and make people feel and do things for the right reasons. This brand will always represent everything that I love.

I love that.

I grew up in Queens in New York and I grew up with not being able to afford certain things and then I worked early and as I progressed in my life and matured in my life, my spectrum became really wide. Sometimes I would wear a Superman T shirt under a denim shirt with a pair of shorts, a pair of sneakers and then I would also wear a Giorgio Armani suit.

It’s interesting you talk about 8th street because 8th street, as you said, had those shoe stores but it also had Untitled. It had Patricia Field. So it was very High/Low, like exactly you.

It had Gray’s Papaya on the corner so you could get a 25 cent hot dog.

100%

You had the Sam Goody across the street. That’s where I used to get my music and Fat Beats on 6th avenue where I used to go get my records. I used to think I was a great DJ. You had a bunch of these stores like, Rugged Sole. There was a lot of different shoe stores on that block. It was the most influential block because, you know, every Sunday, 8th street would turn into a block party.

Every Sunday during the day. Cars were parking diagonally on the street and the cops would not say anything. People were playing music. We used to help all of the superstars before they were superstars. I’d help all of them. They used to come and see me. What an era. That street definitely raised me for sure.

You’ve collaborated with BMW, Cap’n Crunch, Loewe, Armani. Do you just give Giorgio Armani a call and say “Hey, I want to do this!” And they’re like “Kith, I love it, it’s so famous!” Is there a woo-ing process or by now, do you have your choice of suitors?

I think it’s different for every partnership, but for Giorgio specifically, it was a 3 year conversation before that happened. They came for a conversation, and the conversation continued every 6 months, then Giorgio took notice. It took a while because it has to feel right for Giorgio and myself.

It has to feel that it is being done for the right reasons and it happened at the perfect time when the brand was ready to take suiting really seriously. The archetype — who we shot for that: Martin Scorsese, Pierce Brosnan, LaKeith Stanfield, and myself. We had 4 different archetypes of the people that wear Giorgio suits.

I remember.

That was really special, I feel like that was a before and after moment. There are a handful of before and after moments for the brand. I think working with LeBron was one of them, working with Giorgio was one of them, working with BMW was definitely one of them. I think the Cigarette boat moment for summer and the opening of this store at the same time really helped elevate the brand for the way people view what the brand is capable of and the trajectory of where we’re going. I think that became more apparent to people.

You collect shoes. how many pairs of shoes do you own? Do you not count them?

No, it’s probably somewhere around 2,000-3,000.

Wow.

I had a really big collection, but I do it for myself. I was hoping I would have a son to hand it down to, but I have 2 girls. I have nephews that are my size but…

Do you wear them all? Or are they for display purposes only?

No, when I speak about my collection, all of it is unworn.

Good. I’m happy. Thank you.

Yes they’re all unworn.

I collect dishes and people come and want to use a glass and I’m like, “I’m sorry this is for display only, darling.”

Hahahaha

People think I’m insane.

Yeah, it’s kind of the same thing. My parents definitely think I’m insane. My friends who know me know that I still collect, but they think I’m insane.

Is it sneakers or it runs the gamut?

All footwear

Do you buy vintage or is it all new?

I still buy at least 1 or 2 pairs of “new” vintage meaning like old pairs that are unworn. I still buy footwear every week. My wife is always like “what the fuck are you doing?”

Is it always your size?

Yeah, 10 or 10.5 depending on the shoe.

Are there any that have gotten away? Is there a pair that you’ve always wanted that you’re still looking for?

There are a few. There are a few samples, like one-off samples that were on the market that were not my size but i still want to get my hands on. I collect—back in the day, there was this Nike line called HDM and it was Tinker, Hiroshi, and Mark Parker. They came together to create this line that I thought was very underrated at the time, so I’m trying to compete that set. I’m also trying to complete the COJP set, which is all of the Nike shoes that released exclusively in Japan. I like to complete sets of offerings.

Duh! If someone landed from outer space and you wanted to tell them what Kith is, how would you describe it?

I think it’s a place where people go to feel good about product. I think the people who come to Kith understand the differentiation of what we represent in product. The value of product. I want people to get more than what they paid for with the experience at the shop. I want to make people smile whether it’s through product, or through Treats, or through meeting like-minded individuals. I think there’s an interesting “red thread” through people who shop here.

People who love sneakers, love apparel, and love cereal. The people who love sneakers, love cereal almost 100% of the time. Sometimes people buy product and the process of buying the product is so thoughtless. You’re buying it online, or in a mass chain shop or store. It becomes very transactional. The investment that we made as a brand—the pledge everyone took at the company, was to make sure that we never become that. Everything needs to be emotionally driven. Otherwise, you’re buying something just to buy it and that’s not what we want to do.

Is the size of the line outside a measure of success?

I’d prefer that there never be a line. I don’t like to make people wait to shop the store. I also want to make sure—the most important part of this shop is giving people the experience. That’s always going to be paramount. That’s why the line is there. To make sure everyone gets the experience.

That’s why I used to hate the Barneys warehouse sale. It was such a horrible experience, I mean yes you can save some money on a Yohji Yamamoto blazer but it was such a degrading, unpleasant experience. I’d rather pay full price which is why I’m poor and fabulous.

Well the department store experience in general is very different from what we do here. I’ve never been a fan of any department store except for Bergdorf Goodman. A one-off shop that’s very focused on the experience. In its heyday it was unlike anything else. I’m not a huge department store guy.

Are all your 19 locations Kith stores or are you in any other retailers?

We have a shop in Hirshleifers, which is the new version of what a Bergdorf used to be. So, it’s very personable, very one-on-one experience when you enter Hirshleifers. We’re also in Selfridges.

Which I love.

Yeah, great experience in London. We like to be part of the best and I think those stores do it best as multi-brand retailers.

Tell me about the Goodfellas collaboration. The 2 collaborations that I wrote in my notes were Goodfellas and Queens College. I mean, obviously you’re from Queens so I get that but, how did these 2 collaborations fit into the grand scheme.

Really interesting. First of all, Goodfellas, is, in my opinion, one of the top 3 films of all time. My top 3 at least.

What are the other 2, if you don’t mind me asking?

Godfather & Godfather 2.

I see a pattern forming. Have you done something with Francis Ford Coppola since you did something with Martin Scorsese?

I have not.

Is Godfather 2 better than Godfather 1?

I think Godfather 1 is better.

Ok, that’s a different opinion than most. Many People think 2 is the best.

I like original movies. Growing up I liked Rocky 4 more than Rocky, but now, looking back, what set the table for the rest of those movies? I thought that the Godfather was really well done. I think it’s the greatest movie ever made, but, Godfather 2 is a close second. The brand will always be everything I love.

Being able to work on Mickey’s (Mouse) 90th anniversary, then Goodfellas, Godfather. We’re working with Scarface soon. Those are movies that shaped my life. I was a very young kid watching those movies and they made me feel very differently about life. Those movies changed my life.

Did you go to Queens College?

I did not, but—

I know you did Brooklyn College.

For Queens College we shot Jerry Seinfeld.

Fabulous.

The goal for me, for a decade, was to shoot Jerry Seinfeld. That was the top of the moodboard for us. Speaking to Jessica, his wife…

She’s fabulous. Love her.

It was a 2-year process to even get him warmed up to the idea. The funny thing is, Jessica and their son convinced him to do it, but he didn’t even really know what it was. He just showed up to set like “What am I doing?” So I started to explain to him what it was and he loved it. He doesn’t even know that he’s a style god all over Pinterest.

All of his footwear that he wore throughout the show. He didn’t even know that he was looked at as that guy. That was a beautiful moment and he attended Queens College and one of the pictures on the mood board was a still from the show of him wearing a Queens college sweatsuit. We wanted to bring that back and make it as authentic as possible. Also, he’s an alumni, so he gave back to the school. Part of the sales went to the school.

Go Jerry.

It was a great story. I wanted to do a Brooklyn vs. Queens thing and that’s why we did both schools.

Are there any dreams left? Any dream collaborators left?

Lots of dreams left, and my dreams are not tied to collaborations. The brand has built such a strong identity and really lives on its own. Collaborations have always been a big part of what we do, it’s a major part of the DNA. People like to see my perspective and the brands perspective on collaborative projects when we work with brands.

My dreams now are how we tastefully grow internationally and how would we be able to bring this experience to different cities globally and do it tastefully? For example, bringing Sadelle’s to Paris. You ever eat at Sadelle’s? Bringing quality bagels to Paris is a major accomplishment to me. Giving Parisians that experience.

Do you have to bring the water? How do you make a quality bagel in Paris?

There are things you can do to play with the PH balance of the water.

The water in Paris is fucked up.

In some instances, I think the bagels are even better there than here now. My point is, there are people in Paris that are emotionally connected to the brands and the store that are different from the emotions that people have here. In every city I believe it exists in different ways. That emotional bridge that people have. I love that because I think that people are growing up. Some of these kids are growing up with the brands. So now, 14 years later, the stories that i hear of kids that grew up with it. It’s just amazing to hear.

Men’s, women’s, kid’s we’re able to service full family and see how people are buying into the brand and how people feel about the brand. Then you go to the Garden and watch a Knick’s game. Hundreds of people, maybe thousands are wearing Kith Knicks products. We have a store there in the Garden. SO, my dreams have been that. How people consume the brand. How I can shape the way people feel about the product they wear. That’s ultimately, I think, my purpose in life.

Why this neighborhood (Lafayette St & Bleecker)?

This area to me is the center of the universe. Ironically, you live around the block.

Absolutely, so I feel highly responsible.

Hahahahaha that’s what I meant!

That’s why I was attracted to it.

I think a lot of fashion styles and trends are birthed in this 1 mile—1 square mile. How many trends have come and gone in this area? It’s really incredible. Also, the kind of people that shop in this area. You get so many different kinds of people. That’s what I grew up with. That’s what I love. I love the mix. The melting pot of what this city represents.

Are you in Japan? What do you think about Japan?

We have 2 stores in Japan. Tokyo & Osaka. Japan is the most influential country. Tokyo has been the most influential city in my career. The obsession of collecting started there. The attention to detail and what they obsess over. They take a brand like Coca Cola—to us it means a can in a deli. To them, it’s a beautiful American brand. Those are things that really inspired me to do what I do and feel the way I feel about product. They taught me to feel the way I feel about product.

They love to collect like you too. They like a complete set.

And pristine. For example, I get my vintage watches there, vintage apparel there, a lot of references. You can find things—very old things, brand new. I love that. All the cameras I buy from there—vintage cameras. It’s pretty incredible the way they take care of their products. The way they take care of anything. I’m obsessed.

I’ve noticed that you’re obsessed