Kith (Q4945)
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Kith is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Kith |
Kith is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
On the internet there’s a popular meme that goes “can’t wait til it gets colder so I can really start dressin.’” It’s also probably the mantra at Kith where Ronnie Fieg loves nothing more than to indulge in lush fabrics and cozy shapes as soon as the temperatures drop. This season, the standout items include cold-weather classics like plush pieced-shearling coats and checkerboard pattern tweed duffle coats; but also micro suede pieces whose extra soft touch and slight sheen give them the look of heavy sateen.Although the Kith man still has his roots very much in the streets of New York City, Fieg’s recent experiments with tailoring and more traditional menswear silhouettes—most notably with his recent collaboration with Giorgio Armani—have left an impression on the brand’s offering as a whole. To wit, a very handsome tweed double breasted suit with double pleated pants available in a variety of classic nubby wools, or the pièce-de-résistance, a hand-woven leather button-down shirt in caramel or a steely blue greige. It’s one of the most expensive items the brand has offered, coming in at around $2,000. “Coming off the success of Armani, where it was made by Armani at an Armani price point, [we realized] we don’t have any price resistance when it comes to an elevated product,” Fieg explained. “I feel like people have always gotten more than what they pay for with us; so I think they’re happy to spend when it’s right.”
22 October 2024
Last season, Ronnie Fieg launched “&Kin,” a new brand under the Kith umbrella with a focus on tailoring and elevated materials that’s also a reflection of his personal style tendencies. “Launching &Kin really forced me to think differently about everything because that collection did really well for us,” he explained on a Zoom from a Brooklyn studio where he was in the middle of a shoot. “So I’ve changed the priorities and the order in which I have designed in the past and I’m using &Kin to lead the evolution and the maturity of the brand. It’s supposed to be the most sophisticated, elevated, and expensive portion of the brand, but it’s really made me think differently about the fabrics, the construction, and the fits of what we do in the mainline as well; so the bridge has gotten even shorter between our mainline and &Kin.”But don’t let the all-black look of a sober tropical wool overcoat, silk scarf, and woven leather rucksack in look 1 fool you; this isn’t a pivot to quiet luxury, just a more luxe view of Kith’s tried-and-true signatures. Fall is a season made for layering, and there are several terrific jackets in this collection: like a tonal patchworked explorer jacket (available in equally luxe shades of brown or indigo), or the devastating turquoise and emerald washed velvet zip-up jacket that is as soft as a dream. “I’ve been dipping a lot into what would typically be women’s fabrics because I like the way they drape,” Fieg added. Drape came up a lot in our conversation, especially as it relates to pants. This season the pants are slightly narrower and less stiff; a bit more adult. A navy vintage satin double-breasted jacket cropped right below the hips with collapsed shoulders is paired with pleated trousers that elegantly skim the legs and pool just-so on top of the shoes (a quasi-chunky gum-shoe Clark’s from an upcoming collabo). Even a pair of cargo jeans gets special attention, with darts at the knees and semi-rounded seams that add soft ease throughout.Elsewhere, it was all about textural details: classic track jackets in the softest suede layered over a suede shirt, knitted hoodies with contrasting blanket-stitch trims, mesh football jerseys made to be layered over button-down shirts or worn under suits, chunky dégradé fleeces, honeycomb chenille separates, and tonal jacquard shorts.
21 August 2024
This season at Kith there are no overarching themes or drawn-out inspirations; rather this is a collection of relaxed pieces that incorporate, as always, Ronnie Fieg’s passion for beautiful fabrics and his continuing interest in expanding the Kith brand to more accurately reflect his own lifestyle and tastes. A navy suit has a loose-fitting jacket with a built-in white scarf layered underneath the collar and was made from a cupro linen blend that gave the traditionally soft fabric a sturdier hand. The suit is part of a new brand under the Kith umbrella, “&Kin,” that Fieg is quietly launching; it will be focused on more tailoring, and more elevated fabrics and materials with a corresponding “elevated price point.” Though it has its own branding, the pieces will otherwise be simply “woven in” with the new collection, a reflection of how real-life closets work.There is a real earthiness in this summer collection; it looks like Fieg and his team have been feeling a bit of the boho, so-called ’70s influences that have been circulating and incorporated them in a way that feels true to them. See: the cotton shirts with woven-in textured patterns in shades of brick red or hunter green; or the button-downs in light-as-air suede with laser cut paisley patterns. Even the simplest washed twills are heightened through print or silhouette—a boxy pullover shirt gathers at the waist, while a pair of track-inspired pants have six stripes running down the front of each leg, instead of the side.Fieg has been dabbling in crochet for a few seasons and here the results are particularly excellent: a daisy-esque pattern in off-white and egg yolk-yellow feels like something pulled from a pile of vintage baby clothes in the best possible way, only it’s been turned into a handsome shirt and shorts combo (and worn with tech-y patchworked parka jacket with a terrific subtle volume). One of the best pieces in the collection is a green and white striped shirt with a crochet inset on the sleeves and the back plackets—it looks great on the model who wears it with vintage satin boxing shorts. The latter fabric is another highlight of the lineup, especially on a light blue varsity jacket that really looks like it was found in a vintage store or passed down through at least two generations.Though many of the Kith signatures are included in the collection, there are a lot less logos overall, and within the anonymity granted by the lack of overt branding a sense of timelessness has emerged.
Yet, this doesn’t mean that Fieg is making generic clothes; on the contrary, he is leaning into the idiosyncratic and the unexpected—which is always the sweet spot for great clothes.
13 May 2024
There is a palpable lightness in Kith’s spring collection—and it’s not just because the look book was shot inside a New York City subway train (we’re guessing an L) covered in all manner of colorful flowers. Ronnie Fieg wants people to feel good. “This collection is very colorful,” he said from the company’s Williamsburg headquarters. “It’s been a depressing winter, with all the news and everything that we’re going through, and I feel like when the weather gets warm this year, it’ll be a really incredible coming-out party for people to want to feel good.”Pistachio green, strawberry ice cream pink, salmon pink, butter yellow, and electric citrus yellow are all in the mix, along with black, navy, and high school movie day TV-monitor blue (you know, the color that appeared on the screen until the teacher could get the right input to work). Fieg also indulges the senses with sumptuous materials. The star of the collection is the softer-than-soft pink suede jacket with cream crochet detail that opens the look book. Also available in a trench coat style (and a green colorway), it is truly a piece that could be in someone’s wardrobe for a lifetime and passed down for the next generation.If lately Kith collections have skewed a little more serious, spring finds Fieg and his team in a more casual mood, though the results are no less put-together. A citron tech-y mac worn with nylon sport shorts is not quite matchy-matchy, while a blown-up bandana print zip-up jacket worn over a matching button-down shirt is a cool update on the usual shirt-and-shorts combo. There’s interesting texture play in a look made of a slub cotton zip-up hoodie, a chunky knit sweater, and nylon track shorts. The emphasis on materials goes beyond texture and into graphics, which also highlights a lighter side of the brand. An all-over logo jacquard in navy reads as an animal print from afar, and a beige suede jacket embroidered with a crown molding pattern in a shade of blue resembles porcelain.
5 February 2024
A few years ago, a meme emerged when a user on what was known as Twitter posted a funny pic of a cartoon under the caption, “Can’t wait till it gets colder so I can really start dressin.” It struck a nerve likely because, well, it’s true. Cold weather means luxe textures, cozy fabrics, and most importantly, layering—that elite way in which fashion folk show off they’re, well, fashion folk. Nowhere is that more evident than in a Kith winter collection.Take the opening look for example, a cream knit puffer that merges the body of a coach jacket with cable knit. The jacket has a collaged-sort of feel without actually being patchworked, and the myriad textures and silhouettes that went into its construction were unexpectedly experimental, while remaining grounded in the real world. “This isn’t an evolution of anything; this is just a brand new category that we’re designing into because we feel like our knits are evolving rapidly,” Fieg said during an appointment at Kith’s massive Williamsburg headquarters.This same treatment appeared on a quilted nylon jacket with a contrasting cable knit body and hood. At first glance it appeared to be a knitted vest worn over the jacket; but it was not actually intended to be a trompe l’oeil or faux-layered design. They were both worn with a mismatched quilted jersey pant where the pattern ran diagonally on one leg and vertical on the other one. Another standout knitwear moment was half floral print heavy sherpa/half dense cable knit sweater half-zip pullover. “It’s our heaviest gauge knit that we’ve ever done,” Fieg explained, and the sweater was certainly heavy, though of course that has its benefits. Come the coldest months, you would not need to wear much else, though in the lookbook it was styled underneath a puffer vest and a pair of corduroy cargo pants. If you’re wondering what Fieg’s pant mood is; winter is all about a shape that’s “a little roomier and bigger” than previous season’s styles. It is also cropped so that it better shows off a boot—possibly the groovy new style from Kith’s collaboration with Clarks. “It’s meant to fit three quarters over your boot,” he said, pulling out his phone to show a close-up image that details the perfect boot-to-hem ratio. “If it’s going to be cropped, then it can’t be hovering.”Other highlights included a casual double breasted suit that had the look and feel of cashmere but was in fact made from double felted jersey.
The jacket fits a little oversized and the pants give the illusion of a sweatpant—a Kith standby that gets reworked every season—but finished with a straight hem like proper trousers. It looked truly effortless, worn over a mock turtleneck, in heathered gray especially, though a heathered tan colorway also was nice.But the pièce-de-résistance was a coach jacket appliqued with bold and colorful paisleys and florals in a fantastic zest-for-life moment. It’s not surprising that it’s Fieg’s favorite piece in the collection.“It’s made in Italy, and all the appliqués are hand-done. It’s the most amount of work we’ve ever done for one piece; it took six different sample runs to get it right.” Another version of the jacket, in different shades of white and beige suede and leather, brought to mind the most delicate lace. They were further proof of how Fieg and his team are making some of the most elevated contemporary American menswear today.
24 October 2023
There are two kinds of designers: those who dress in their own wares, and those who have a creative vision that is separate from their personal preferences. There are no wrong answers here, but thankfully for all Kith devotees, Ronnie Fieg is in the former camp. He works as his own fit model and with each passing year he has carefully molded the Kith aesthetic to fit his own: a man in his 40s, married and with children, with a discerning taste for fine materials among other things, honed over the years. His challenge as of late has been the push and pull of bringing the Kith collections along with this new phase in his life, without leaving behind the customers that helped him get to the top.He’s more than met that challenge—witness the video campaign from last season, starringAdrien Brodywearing the label’s secretly sumptuous clothes while teetering beneath his ineffable Adrien Brody-ness as he cooks an Italian meal and runs lines for a role…in Italian—but he still feels the pressure. When we meet at the vast Kith offices in Williamsburg, it’s the first thing he mentions. “It’s been hard to continue to elevate, we have to push ourselves to always be better—even when it’s really good,” he shares. “And last fall was really, really good for us.” He needn’t worry, as he and his team are clearly riding a good wave. The first thing he shows me is a khaki lapel-less suit in a tech fabric—the jacket features a magnetic lock and reverses to black, and there are pants to match in both colors. “I have lapel-less suiting from Margiela that I really like, and that's become kind of like my go-to where it's casual enough to wear during the day and not take it too seriously,” he adds. It appears in both khaki and black in the look book, styled with a simple off-white cotton turtleneck, and a white button down shirt respectively. They both capture a different energy: sleek and elegant, with the ease of pajamas.Ease is perhaps one of the reigning feelings at Kith that most reflects Fieg’s own attitude toward dressing.
The shirts and jackets are classic silhouettes; button downs, hoodies, starter jackets, all made from incredibly luxe fabrics that are begging to be touched and examined; like a shirt in an embedded checkered pattern made from fraying some of the threads on the weave to create small squares (worn over an airy tonal wool sweater whose shade of gray brought to mind the graphite smudges of a hand rubbing against the pages of a pencil-scribbled notebook), or the multi-color striped cotton shirt that was as soft as a very old, beloved T-shirt (worn underneath an equally sumptuous beige suede jacket, though another version in patchworked shades of hunter green was truly one of the stars of the collection), or the short-sleeve leather shirt laser cut and embroidered with Kith’s signature paisley pattern, which is remixed and reworked every season. Trousers often feature an elastic waistband and a drawstring even when they are made of double cotton jerseys, or tonal paisley jacquards, but the look is rarely “dressed down.” He wants to make Kith known for its indulgence in materials, for its textures. “What I preach to the team is that we need to always have these pinnacle pieces that are so textural that it's obviously us,” he explains. “Like you don't need the branding, and you can tell that it's us just by the look and feel of it.”If this all seems very serious and capital-M Menswear Fashion, that’s because it is! But Fieg hasn’t lost his playful edge, take a hoodie printed with a photorealistic image of mountains with delicately embroidered flowers at the bottom; nor has he lost his love for boldly emblazoning the Kith logo throughout the collection, like on an oversize leather bomber jacket with batwing sleeves in contrasting blocks of red and black and a bold Kith logo across the back that seemed like an updated version of the classic 8-ball jacket, though okay, maybe it was also a nod to the original Air Jordan 11 colorway. (Fieg may have been named creative director of the New York Knicks in November, but childhood nostalgia for Jordan is forever.) “The spectrum that we cover needs to be a little wider than most brands because of the people that we cater to,” he explained. “I started off a certain way and as we’ve grown we’ve kept a lot of those customers, they’ve gotten older with me, but I don’t forget about the younger consumer either.”
22 August 2023
At Kith, Ronnie Fieg continues shaping collections in his image—and that’s a good thing. For his prefall lineup, also known as summer, Fieg created his dream European vacation wardrobe. “Last year for my 40th birthday, I traveled to Europe for like three weeks,” he explained over Zoom. “I started in Nice at Du Cap. From there we went to St. Tropez and from there traveled to Italy for a bit.” He added, “That’s where I started to put together the line plan and started to think about fabrics and fits.”Spending three weeks in the French Riviera and Italy may be out of reach for most people, but now looking like you do—reallylooking like you do—is not. There are simple crochet T-shirts and multiweave striped crochet shirts; button-downs in light-as-air, subtly striped cotton gauze; and a beautiful shirt or overshirt made in India from cotton eyelet. (Zoom in, and you can see the pockets at the hips have been carefully placed to match the eyelet pattern on the body.) The color palette reflects the gorgeous locales that likely inspired the clothes: the various shades of beige, white, and brown, punctuated by mustard yellows, forest green, powder blues, and crimson red.Because this is a collection conceived under the spell of a vacation, the silhouettes are universally relaxed. Striped linen pants are pleated and cut “a little bit cropped” so that they look better with sandals—Fieg “loves wearing sandals with this kind of pant.” There are two boxy “suits,” one with a short-sleeve, shawl-collar “shirt” (or jacket) with a wrap front in striped tropical wool and another with a standard two-button jacket with a boxy fit. The former is worn with classic loafers and the latter with thick-banded suede sandals, but they both have a classic, relaxed appeal.Even the accessories—oversized tote bags in raffia (there is also a matching Yankees cap in the natural material) and little stamped Saffiano leather crossbody bags—suggest both practicality and luxury. (Don’t forget Fieg is a father: He knows a giant tote bag that can fit extra toys, along with grown-up necessities, is a must for travel.) Silk scarves knotted around the neck and worn underneath shirt and jacket collars perfectly capture a summer vibe. It’s a collection made for days spent under the Tuscan sun but one that may work even better in the punishing Manhattan heat.
15 May 2023
KITH just opened a sprawling 5,500 square foot space on Rodeo Drive that is its second Los Angeles location. Understandably, it was also the inspiration for its spring collection. “If you look at the store, you’ll see a lot of travertine and these different color marbles,” KITH’s creative director Ronnie Fieg explained over Zoom the day after the store’s opening party. “The monochrome feel of the collection, the beige, the lighter colors, and textures, but more importantly, the luxe feel of what we did on Rodeo really speaks to the apparel.”For a few seasons now, Fieg has placed an emphasis on KITH’s fabrics and materials to closely reflect his own personal interests and mirror his personal style. “When people think about me and the brand, I really want them to start paying attention to the fabrics, and for us to be known for our fabrics,” Fieg said. “I never want to charge for the logo.”This was evident in the Bulgarian pinstripe double weave fabric, which the brand has been working with for a few seasons now. Fieg considers it to be part of KITH’s “suiting” range—and it’s shown to full effect in the last look of the collection. A short sleeve shirt and matching trousers was made in a black with gray pinstripes. The shirt was worn open, as a jacket, over a white t-shirt and a vest. It’s all a very relaxed elegance.Patchwork was a big theme this season, and was most successful in the knitwear, including the cardigans made from panels of different knit gauges: thin ribs, cable knits, and so on, one in shades of tan, oatmeal, and off-white, and another in a pleasing palette of light aqua, lime, and gray. Elsewhere, a patchworked suede jacket had been treated to achieve a rib texture that looked like corduroy at first glance. “It’s the same suede imported from the UK that’s used for Clarks; they use this suede on their wallabies, so we took that fabric and applied it to the jacket,” Fieg explained. “It’s probably the most luxe piece of outerwear in the collection.” Clarks has long been a collaborator with KITH, and this season, Fieg took that collaboration a step further by bringing Adidas into the mix. His take on the ever-popular Adidas Samba shoe features Clarks’s trademark crepe sole.Paisley prints are a go-to in KITH collections and there were many of them here.
A lightweight jacket and matching shorts made from quilted lightweight cotton poplin (worn under a utilitarian jacket for a bit of edge) was printed with a sort of overcrowded paisley, like a vine left unattended. On a Japanese indigo wash coach jacket, the paisley had been deconstructed into its elements, and separated into different panels which were then pieced together. Underneath, a navy and white intarsia knit also showcased the signature curvilinear shapes of a paisley print, pushed even further into new territory.
6 February 2023
Having established a new vibe at Kith — luxe fabrics and classic silhouettes with a twist — Ronnie Fieg is now free to stretch the limits of his current interests. “I’m 40 now, my taste in fabrics and fits has changed over the years,” he said at the brand’s sprawling studio in Williamsburg. “But it’s important for me to take the customers from when I first opened when I was 28 on this journey. I think it’s really important to cover the full spectrum of the person who’s entering the brand for the first time.”The challenge for Fieg and his team now is balancing his new, more mature desires (“I don’t want to look like a dad without [people] seeing my kid with me,” he said) with the desires of the kids that line up outside his stores (likely, “I don’t wanna look like a dad,” full-stop). So far, I’d say, they’re meeting the challenge with aplomb. A red leather coach jacket with patches and embroideries detailing the worldwide locations of Kith stores is an obvious way the two instincts are married — the leather is luscious, Italian, and will likely only improve with age.But Fieg is not likely to be satisfied with the obvious, and that’s where things get interesting. Consider the classic fleece jacket done with a piled fleece instead, which had the effect of bouclé fabric; or the patchwork paisley pattern that was featured on a simple jacket that was shaped like a coat liner, suitable to be worn as an outer or middle layer. It would be easy to mistake both items for vintage, save for the Kith logos that are subtly emblazoned on them. A field jacket with multiple pockets in a bright red tech fabric (“with a cotton hand”) felt like the kind someone might accidentally steal from their parent’s closet and then secretly boast about when someone compliments it. It was paired with green corduroy cargo pants, a staple of the Kith wardrobe. Cargo pants may be a trend right now, but Fieg knows how to get them done right. Some styles feature a wider leg, others slightly taper. He also made them out of slouchy cotton, and a “crosshatch fabric that looks like corduroy.”The thing about the clothes at Kith right now is that you have to feel them to truly get it. Unzip a giant Marmot Biggie Puffer (a collaboration coming later this winter), and inside a tonal lining is revealed. There are lush shearlings and teddy coats, felted wools, and even a gorgeous Japanese indigo-dyed puffer coat with simple-but-exquisite white-stitched details.
It’s not in the lookbook but you’d likely want to seek it out. “I want to be known for [our fabrics],” Fieg said. “There is substance to these fabrics, nothing feels ‘fast,’ and some of them are very expensive, and we take a hit on some of the margins. Because everybody should be able to buy into some of these fabrics, you know? It’s important for us.” The kids waiting in line might have some older companions coming their way soon.
27 October 2022
Kith founder Ronnie Fieg is big into fabrics. “This season has a lot of novelty fabrics,” he says at an appointment. “I feel every season it’s become a challenge, and a sport basically, for us to one-up what we’ve done the year before for the same season.”If last fall he celebrated Kith’s 10th anniversary by leaning into a “neutral palette of humble, easy silhouettes,” this season he was less conspicuous with his style statements. Chief among them is a beautiful floral tapestry fabric shown as a striking full look: a chore jacket with brown suede trim collar and patch pocket details, worn with matching loose fit trousers, a matching tote bag, and, of course, a matching New Era Yankee hat. A striped chenille fabric in shades of moss green and brown was used for a classic chore coat (with a matching bucket hat), but it shone brightest as a pair of trousers that anchored a fuzzy cheetah-print cardigan with black trim, and peeked out just so from underneath a slick olive jacket with a “unique sheen and matte feel.”“I feel like there is a time in this market today where there needs to be a very strong point of view,” Fieg explains. “It’s gotten more sophisticated, and the [Kith] guy is definitely looking to be told which prints he can wear together, you know what I mean?” Standouts included killer paisley-embossed leather pieces, and a paisley print-flocked denim, which was made into a groovy Canadian tuxedo. The comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who stars in the Kith fall campaign, called it his “date-night look.” (Seinfeld, an alum of Queens College, was the obvious choice to announce the brand’s capsule collection with Queens College and Brooklyn College — developed in collaboration with Russell Athletics.) Fieg is also continuing his ongoing collaborations with New Balance and Clarks Originals.Meanwhile Kith’s womenswear has become sharper and more defined. Fieg’s favorite looks: a collegiate knit cardigan from his Russell collaboration worn with a pair of plaid track pants and deep brown loafers (no socks), and a heather gray polo buttoned all the way up and layered underneath a beige cable knit v-neck cardigan and plaid track jacket and cargo pants. Fieg’s is a cool and casual tomboy-ish vision that is not often seen in the market. “It’s been seven years [that we’ve been doing] womenswear and we’re finally getting into this groove of sophistication that I really am comfortable with.” He should keep grooving in that direction.
6 September 2022
Culture vultures have been searching for the “vibe shift” since its imminent arrival was forecasted this spring. Have we found it? Maybe not when it comes to aesthetics at large, but New York’s downtown barometer of hype, Kith, is certainly embarking on a new path. Starting with the label’s spring collection, founder Ronnie Fieg has been aging up the Kith dude, formalizing his wardrobe, and giving him a little finery. Not to say the brand’s streetwear roots are absent in this pre-fall offering—Fieg is giving his customer base colorblocked, ’90s-inspired tracksuit sets and New Balance sneakers in retro colorways—but the Kith spirit is markedly more mature.Crochet camp shirts, Positano-evoking striped sets, and micro cords add texture andsprezzaturato the Kith offering this season. Silhouettes are breezy and effortless, with pieces coming in a palette of terrazzo colors. (Relatedly, Fieg spent his 40th birthday in the South of France.) Even logos have gotten a sophisticated update, now debossed for a tonal nod to the brand’s heritage. The logo-free pieces, well, you might never know they were Kith.Is that a good thing or a bad thing? To fashion purists, the hype around Kith has become something of a meme: fuccbois clustering around the stores waiting for the next drop. However funny that is to the glitterati, it does a business make. Without those recognizable, ironically cool staples, what separates Kith from every other menswear label trying to ride the wave of nostalgic eclecticism launched over five years ago by Emily Adams Bode? It might not be totally evident in this chilled out look book, but Fieg knows how to cut a smart path that satisfies his clientele and the culture at large. No doubt Kith will stay on top, even with the mature new vibes.
31 May 2022
The hype beasts are becoming hype men at Kith. As Ronnie Fieg’s business crosses to the other side of its first decade—and Fieg marks his 40th birthday this year—the splashy graphics and over-the-top logos that once defined Kith have been traded out for something subtler. Spring 2022 takes a pastoral tack, with slate, sky, sage, and sand as its primary colors and workwear and leisurewear mashupsas its defining silhouettes.The big story here is relaxation. Coach jackets are quilted and puffy, either dotted with small blossoms or in a gradient of neutral tones. The brand’s first stabs at traditional workwear clothing, done in that very recognizable shade of brown, are not in stiff twill but rather a washed cotton that took “over 18 months of fabric development,” per Fieg. A revitalized focus on denim led Fieg and co. to construct a straight-leg light wash jean and coordinating slim jacket—the jeans are a rebuttal to the loungewear that Kith helped popularize, but still narrow enough at the ankle to show off a pair of sneakers.Photographed in a makeshift meadow inside a photo studio, with cloud-prints and florals evoking scenes created by another of fashion’s big dreamers, Kith’s latest follows in the footsteps of the menswear designers who have had to pivot from street to sartorial. Fieg says this collection, with all its layering and more subtle details, was designed to help his customers “become the best dressed people they know.” A step in the right direction, but maybe a little too referential of recent menswear trends.
7 February 2022
Kith is celebrating 10 years in business this season. Founder Ronnie Fieg is marking the anniversary with a 300-page tome in collaboration with Jim Moore calledKXTH, which chronicles every project in the Kith universe, from BMW to Cap’n Crunch. It reads less like the emotional story of building a brand—however passionate Fieg is about each and every product—and more like a cross between an encyclopedia and a catalogue. Other brands could consider it a roadmap to massive success; this year Kith moved its 120 employees to a 60,000 square foot office in Brooklyn and, yet again, is making record profits.The collection that marks Kith’s 10th anniversary is, perhaps, something of a surprise. The brand that deals in hype, pop, and collaborations is doing something much more humble for fall 2021. Sure there’s a big time partnership with the New York Yankees and New York Mets: The teams lent their logos to adorn suits, jackets, and Clark’s shoes. But beyond that, what Fieg and his team have developed is mostly in a neutral palette of humble, easy silhouettes. “We feel more purposeful in what we’re making,” Fieg said over a video call. His favorite piece is a shearling patchwork coat—no logos or obvious branding. Coaches’ jackets and straight-leg pants make up the Kith version of a suit: another hype-free style that could lure a new customer to Kith’s Soho megastore.When Fieg started Kith he was 28-years old; now he’s a decade older and dressing for a more grown-up life. The kids will still line up for Kith’s buzzy drops, but Fieg is smart to evolve his collection into something for the Kith man too.
29 September 2021
Kith is celebrating 10 years in business this season. Founder Ronnie Fieg is marking the anniversary with a 300-page tome in collaboration with Jim Moore calledKXTH, which chronicles every project in the Kith universe, from BMW to Cap’n Crunch. It reads less like the emotional story of building a brand—however passionate Fieg is about each and every product—and more like a cross between an encyclopedia and a catalogue. Other brands could consider it a roadmap to massive success; this year Kith moved its 120 employees to a 60,000 square foot office in Brooklyn and, yet again, is making record profits.The collection that marks Kith’s 10th anniversary is, perhaps, something of a surprise. The brand that deals in hype, pop, and collaborations is doing something much more humble for fall 2021. Sure there’s a big time partnership with the New York Yankees and New York Mets: The teams lent their logos to adorn suits, jackets, and Clark’s shoes. But beyond that, what Fieg and his team have developed is mostly in a neutral palette of humble, easy silhouettes. “We feel more purposeful in what we’re making,” Fieg said over a video call. His favorite piece is a shearling patchwork coat—no logos or obvious branding. Coaches’ jackets and straight-leg pants make up the Kith version of a suit: another hype-free style that could lure a new customer to Kith’s Soho megastore.When Fieg started Kith he was 28-years old; now he’s a decade older and dressing for a more grown-up life. The kids will still line up for Kith’s buzzy drops, but Fieg is smart to evolve his collection into something for the Kith man too.
29 September 2021
Backstage before Kith’s Fall 2019 show, founder Ronnie Fieg was keen to talk through the finer details of all 95 of his runway looks. But equal with discussing the waxed nylon puffers and the many collaborations within the show—Disney, Rhude, MISBHV, Adidas Terrex, Pendleton, Russell, andVogue—Fieg was concerned about a model resting her feet one atop the other. Politely, he approached her to let her know that the suede New Balances were to be modeled with two feet flat on earth. “Those are like the most important shoes in the show,” he demurred afterward, which is saying something. The first 40 looks of the collection did not repeat a shoe once.Product is crucial to the Kith modus operandi. By owning a retailer with an in-house line, Fieg has the luxury of knowing what sells…and then making it himself. He does this mostly through collaborations, though his own collection of menswear has expanded sizably beyond the jogger pants it started with. Clothes are easily styled the way Fieg or his fans would wear them, and plenty were on display in the front row tonight.But as the designer himself admits, “The event is equally important as the product.” Inspired by the upcoming opening of Kith’s Paris location and a winter trip to the Amangani Resort in Wyoming, he christened the show Kith Air and used digital video mapping technology to make the interior of Cipriani Downtown appear like the base of the Eiffel Tower, the Sahara desert, and the Swiss Alps. In the end, the NYC skyline rose above the crowd. Above all else, Kith is a New York brand and a testament to New York–style business. Always be closing!
6 September 2019
Backstage before Kith’s Fall 2019 show, founder Ronnie Fieg was keen to talk through the finer details of all 95 of his runway looks. But equal with discussing the waxed nylon puffers and the many collaborations within the show—Disney, Rhude, MISBHV, Adidas Terrex, Pendleton, Russell, andVogue—Fieg was concerned about a model resting her feet one atop the other. Politely, he approached her to let her know that the suede New Balances were to be modeled with two feet flat on earth. “Those are like the most important shoes in the show,” he demurred afterward, which is saying something. The first 40 looks of the collection did not repeat a shoe once.Product is crucial to the Kith modus operandi. By owning a retailer with an in-house line, Fieg has the luxury of knowing what sells…and then making it himself. He does this mostly through collaborations, though his own collection of menswear has expanded sizably beyond the jogger pants it started with. Clothes are easily styled the way Fieg or his fans would wear them, and plenty were on display in the front row tonight.But as the designer himself admits, “The event is equally important as the product.” Inspired by the upcoming opening of Kith’s Paris location and a winter trip to the Amangani Resort in Wyoming, he christened the show Kith Air and used digital video mapping technology to make the interior of Cipriani Downtown appear like the base of the Eiffel Tower, the Sahara desert, and the Swiss Alps. In the end, the NYC skyline rose above the crowd. Above all else, Kith is a New York brand and a testament to New York–style business. Always be closing!
5 September 2019
Kith is, in a word, impressive. Ronnie Fieg’s burgeoning label has blown up over the past few years in terms of credibility, popularity, revenue, and celebrity and industry clout. Ask any style-aware kid under 30 if she or he knows what Kith is: Odds are, they’ll say yes. The brand is a little bit Supreme on steroids, a little bit Vetements for perhaps not quite such deep pockets, and a lot of bits something entirely its own—a collaboration factory—and hard to completely categorize, because of how full-court press Fieg is in terms of linkups and drops and fueling the flames of the hype. That hype has not shown any signs of sputtering.Fieg only shows once a year, presenting womenswear and menswear in tandem, and he emphasizes that nothing is linked to traditional fashion seasons. Tonight, he revealed a four-part performance: Kith’s own namesake line; a dedicated capsule collection with Tommy Hilfiger (Hilfiger’s wife, Dee, mentioned that they were just off of a flight from Shanghai, where Hilfiger held his own runway show on September 4); a dedicated capsule collection with Greg Lauren; and a dedicated capsule collection with none other than the house of Versace. For each ostensible “chapter,” the bleachers, holding an audience that included Justin Bieber, Alexandre Arnault, 2 Chainz, Heron Preston, and more, moved down the length of the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s expansive Duggal Greenhouse. “It’s about rethinking the fashion show,” said Fieg beforehand. “You have to make it entertaining—but, that doesn’t work unless the product is on that same level of engagement.”For the most part, said product was equal to the enjoyment of the spectacle. (But with one caveat, of which, more in a moment.) Within Kith’s own line, there too were collaborations—ongoing, like with Bergdorf Goodman and Columbia, and fresh, like with Mastermind Japan—though Fieg noted that this was his most “aesthetically thought of” collection to date. That sentiment was evinced with strong tailored overcoats and leather jackets—a welcome move away from the merch universe into something anchored with more of a sense of design.The Hilfiger section had the brand’s new ambassador Hailey Baldwin open in a color-blocked shirt and tie with cropped khaki pants, all-over embroidered with the Tommy Hilfiger griffin crest. The look was a highlight, as were remakes of vintage flag polos and ruched-waist parkas. “When I was a kid, Tommy was all I knew. He was who I wanted to be,” said Fieg.
7 September 2018
Kith pretty much killed it for Spring. With all the recent talk about resuscitating New York Fashion Week, it would appear that the city is off to a sprinting start—Tom Ford with his sexy, sparkly homecoming last night, and, thanks to Ronnie Fieg (Kith’s founder) and co., we have now had cameos by both Scottie Pippen and basketball’s GOAT, LeBron James. If that doesn’t imply some level of public-interest CPR, all within 24 hours no less, we don’t know what does.Granted, celebrity shouldn’t be the crutch upon which energy and praise are propped. But that’s where Kith went the extra mile—it succeeded in delivering a mostly solid men’s and women’s lineup behind its famous guests: There were a lot, truly a lot, of sport-and-streetwear–inflected pieces that bull’s-eyed all the targets of the current, continuing zeitgeist. There were collaborations, at least 15 of them (Vetements often gets credit for this, but in Kith’s case, the feel is notably more ordinary), including Disney, Champion, Coca-Cola, Nike, Adidas, Moncler, and even, it seemed, Chase Bank. Just recently and worth noting, Kith collaborated with yours truly,Vogue,on sweatshirts—they sold out within a day. Furthermore, there were hypebeast pieces here that the blog set will pine for, yet there were also subtler forms of design—a fully loaded traversing, really, of the gray area that is merch-meets-fashion, albeit skewed more on the merch side of things. Much of it will fly off the shelves of Kith’s multi-brand boutiques, no doubt. And finally, the vibe was right. Virgil Abloh was spotted walking in, while Alana O’Herlihy snapped pictures of Neels Visser. Millennial optimization, but in a way that felt natural—like peoplewantedto be there instead of being paid to be there.Sport was the theme of the night—Fieg included segments inspired by baseball, alpine athletics, and, of course, basketball. Multicolored varsity jackets were emblazoned with Bergdorf Goodman’s logo on the back—continuing a collab with the department store that started last season. There was even an Off-White hoodie with a lunar figure serving as theOin a printedOff—a subtle eclipse wink? Shearling parkas, robes, a cable-knit turtleneck sweater with a floppily loose collar, an arctic camo jacket, track pants with Nike logos filled in with leopard and zebra prints, and sweatshirts with Moncler’s logo—overlaid with Kith’s—all sent fingers tapping across camera-ready screens.
James emerged last in a plaid workman’s jacket over a gray hoodie and tapered blue pants—everyone cheered.So: umpteen collaborations, frenzy-inducing pieces alongside fantastic everyday basics, and a hell of a lot of buzz—this was an impressive, hyper-current viewpoint of the industry’s, and the market’s, ongoing fascination with fashion distillation, and it was right on the money. The only complaint is that the show’s chapter-like staging dragged on a tad too long—it might be better next time to do a full run-through all at once. If the soundtrack remains the same—which tonight included hooks from “When I B on Tha Mic” by Rakim and “Simon Says” by Pharoahe Monch—we will not get bored. Good, good stuff.
8 September 2017