Image via Complex Original
It's a little before 7 p.m. on a Wednesday evening, and as the sun sets over Broadway and Bleecker—where sneakerhead mecca, gallery, and retail destination Kith quietly lords over Nolita's most kicks-addicted shoppers—its owner, ambassador, and creative force Ronnie Fieg is getting ready to go to Miami. And yeah, he'll get some R&R, but it's also a matter of business—while he's there, Fiegs's launching a pop-up shop from May 2-May 10 for his highly anticipated "East Coast Project," a set of product collaborations set up through Kith and other key street fashion brands like Just Don, STAMPD, Herschel Supply Co, and more.
If you can't tell, Ronnie Fieg is busier than ever these days. It's gotten to the point where he has to install an app on his phone that triggers its blinding flash every time he gets an email or a text message. At the moment, he's going back-and-forth with a company about their samples not arriving in time for the ECP project lookbook that's being shot by New York's own photography enfant terrible, 13th Witness. During our sit-down, multiple staff members will drop in to check up on Fieg, talking everything from product roll-out to what he wants to eat for dinner that night, all in rapid-fire succession, one after the other.
But that's usually a surefire indicator of some kind of genius, isn't it? When it comes to his brand and his dealings, Fieg's life equal measures the scattershot chaos it hands him and the precise methodology with which he handles it. He'll drop a preview of a product at 3 a.m. on Instagram, just because he wants to. He'll also re-shoot products multiple times to ensure they don't just pop, but detonate the streetwear heads' heads when they hit the blogs. It's this unique attention to detail, paired with guerrilla, ears-to-the-ground marketing, and the unapologetic aura of a victorious hustler that's helped Fieg build his name and the ever-expanding Kith empire. And not everybody likes it. But they're in the minority, as evidenced by the fact that Kith is about to embark on its biggest endeavor yet: a collaboration with eight brands, on eight different products, which each adopt a unique Miami/New York color scheme exclusive to the project. In this sit-down with Complex, Fieg breaks down why he chose these brands to collaborate with, how he figured out that the game is bigger than the shoes, and the way he went about winning it.
JUST DON Snapbacks, $400-$450
Ronnie says: "Just Don has been part of Kith now for six months, and we've had a lot of success with the brand. When people want Just Don they know that Kith is now a destination for it. Don is looking to be the leader in luxury sportswear. The price point puts you on a level that will really differentiate you from the rest, plus the hats look fucking amazing. He's very selective on where he puts his product, but when I told him that I had this project in Miami, he was excited for it. He's actually going to be down there for it, and he knows that aesthetically I do things in a way which he respects and vice-versa. He knows that the brand is in good hands with me, so it wasn't a problem to get him on board."
Kith x Play Cloths "Just Play T-shirts, $45; Tank-tops, $42
Ronnie says: "I really fuck with that logo, it's supposed to represent a 1970s paperboy. It's an old school feel with a new graphic, so it's kind of reminiscent of how I first felt about BAPE. I wanted to bring the logo back but give it a twist with this project. Really, the collaboration was supposed to be between me and Pusha. We came up with the concept and put this thing together. Play Cloths makes some nice pieces but this was to really take my favorite element from the brand and throw it together with the project. To be honest with you, I don't really wear graphic tees, it's not my thing, but these two graphics I would wear because when you look at the graphic it's such a clever twist on what they've been doing and then adding in the Miami colorway makes it really clean."
Stampd Tank Top, $42; Stampd T-shirt, $45; Stampd Snapbacks, $52
Ronnie says: "I fuck with Chris Stamp more than I fuck with anybody else on the West Coast. His site is amazing to me, and his vision is very similar to mine. When I told him about the Miami thing. It was like, 'Let's put some of your key items in these colorways.' Chris usually doesn't fuck with colors, so at first he was a little skeptical because he was apprehensive. So we sampled it and it came out, and he was even surprised that the colors looked so good."
Herschel Supply Co. Backpacks, $95
Ronnie says: "When the consumer gets more than they paid for, it makes for a great relationship. It's a perfect price point. The retail of the ECP bag should be $110, but I lowered the price to $95 because I wanted to give people a good deal. There are tons of details in the bags—3M details by the zipper closure in the front and the piping on the strap, then the back strap I split into two colors, and finished the lining on the handle off with 3M. We put white zippers, chambray lining, and a white leather de-bossed tag on the inside of the bag. When people really pick it up and take a look, they'll notice the quality and weight of the bag and for $95 it's a real steal."
Ronnie Fieg x Tina Catherine Sunglasses, $250
Ronnie says: "We worked on that frame last year, that gray frame. I wear that frame all the time, so I wanted to work on it again, and we were able to get these cool gradient lenses that I had never seen anywhere. These frames are made in the same factory as Oliver Peoples and Thom Browne in Japan. If you look at the Tina Catherine boutique in Chelsea, they're killing it. I think they're the best at what they do, so creating that frame with them was a real good experience. When you wear them, it's actually a little psychedelic. It's a gradient that is continuous throughout the lens."
Kith x Stance "Just Stance" Socks, $10
Ronnie says: "Stance makes the best socks in the world. Everybody on my Instagram posts are always thinking that I'm barefoot so people talk mad shit. So now they know. I had to create that sock and everybody that buys a pair of shoes with this project gets the socks complimentary. I wanted to create a sock that you could wear with the Gel Lyte III's which have the split tongue where you don't see the sock. Creating the ankle sock I think was very essential to how these shoes look when you put them on. Stance makes the most comfortable socks and after a hundred washes they still look the same. It has become the sneakerhead sock."
Kith Stanton Sweatshort, $75; Kith Towels, $65
Ronnie says: "I designed the Kith house product last because it took the shortest amount of time. We started working on the shorts three weeks ago because I realized while I was in Miami that I needed something that's a lot more wearable."
Kith Madison Windbreaker, $110
Ronnie says: "The first piece in the entire collection was the windbreaker, because the windbreaker to me is the most athletic piece in the collection. I also think it matches the best with the sneakers compared to any other piece in the collection. That was the first piece that I wanted to conquer. It's an '80s inspired windbreaker so if you look at how the panels line up, it's asymmetrical, kind of like an old school tennis windbreaker—like the shit that Agassi used to wear. If you look at the sleeves and notice how it's broken up, how the cuffs are different colors, basically nothing lines up but it still looks clean. I think the logo treatment on it is perfect. We went back three or four times to get the logo right."
Kith Tank Top, $42; Kith T-shirts, $45
Ronnie says: "After I knew I was going to open a pop-up shop in Miami, I knew a tank top was definitely a necessity. It was just after we created the new the Kith logo, so I wanted that logo to get some shine. The logo with the palm tree and the upside down skyline is exclusive to ECP. I don't want to say that you'll never see it again after this because on the New York City logo, that skyline is just so good."
Golden Bear Lightweight Varsity, $250
Ronnie says: "I think that it's very different from what you're used to seeing in a varsity as far as the leather inserts by the shoulder breaking the jacket up. The striped ribbing gives it more of a collegiate feel. It's easy to think, ;Oh, he did a varsity in a Dolphins colorway,' but you could fuck that jacket up in so many ways. You could make it all orange with teal leather inserts, and the jacket would make you look like a clown. This one's put together in a way that's very wearable. The Knicks varsity is one of my favorite pieces in the collection. It's a piece in the project that can stand really by itself."
Ronnie Fieg x ASICS Gel Lyte III "Miami Colorway," $145
Ronnie says: "What I love most about Miami is the color teal. That color represents Miami; the flamingo, the water, the pools, and I think that the Dolphins colorway obviously represents that part of Miami. I'm not a Dolphins fan, but I am a very big fan of the colorway and back in the day I used to have a Dolphins Apex colorway pullover. That was the jam. What really separates this from the other shoes that I've worked on is the 3M hits really come through depending on where you stand. The Miami shoe has a woven mesh toe and a woven mesh collar which makes it a little more breathable for the Miami folks. Sure, other brands have done Miami colorways, but the reason why this is so different from theirs is because of how premium the sneaker is. "
Ronnie Fieg x ASICS Gel Lyte III "Knicks Colorway," $145
Ronnie says: "I wanted it to be as much of an eye opener as the Miami Dolphins shoe. I needed them to sit side-by-side and for them to complement each other. I actually had a few samples and that had a darker orange. In the end, this orange is the perfect orange. The stripes are also 3M, but here they're split up so the eyes of the shoe are orange, and it really becomes a layered two-tone. For this project, I actually developed a new insole with Asics. Basically, your foot sinks into the memory foam and comfort-wise, it's a much different experience from other Gel Lyte IIIs that I've done. These two sneakers are the most comfortable Asics I've ever put on my feet."
