From Stock Boy to Building Fashion Empire | Ronnie Fieg, Kith

Ronnie Fieg is the founder, CEO and creative director of Kith. At 13, he turned down an envelope of cash at his bar mitzvah to ask his cousin for a job, then spent 15 years working his way up from stock boy to buyer at David Z. He explains how growing up in Queens and working on 8th Street shaped his taste, how his first ASICS Gel-Lyte III collaboration landed on the front of The Wall Street Journal’s Pursuits section and why he still designs every product for himself first. Ronnie describes why Kith refuses to wholesale or license, why he opens new physical stores as online sales grow and why he believes luxury should mean how much people love what they buy. He also details how a failed white chocolate bread idea became Kith Treats, how he prices product so customers get more than they pay for and what he felt seeing all 1,800 of his shoe designs laid out in chronological order. Ronnie shares how an obsession with padel led to Kith Ivy, why he is expanding into hospitality with Ronnie’s and why growing up before the internet forced him to develop his own point of view. Show notes: https://www.davidsenra.com/episode/ro... Made possible by Ramp: https://ramp.com AppLovin: https://applovin.com/senra Deel: https://deel.com/senra David Senra X: https://x.com/davidsenra Instagram:   / davidsenra   LinkedIn:   / davidsenra   Facebook:   / senrashow   Threads: https://www.threads.com/@davidsenra Spotify: https://spti.fi/TVrr557 Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/4msoZtb Website: https://www.davidsenra.com Ronnie Fieg Website: https://ronniefieg.com Instagram:   / ronniefieg   Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ronniefieg X: https://x.com/RonnieFieg Chapters 00:00:00 You can’t work backwards from money 00:04:43 “Keep the envelope. I want a job.” 00:10:25 Why the CEO is also the fit model 00:18:43 The childhood shoe that launched his career 00:20:52 The Wall Street Journal, a line down the block and a visit from Adidas 00:26:48 Get rid of the crap 00:31:09 What luxury should actually mean 00:32:40 Why Kith doesn’t wholesale or license 00:38:24 Building the opposite of an arrogant sneaker shop 00:40:39 The Italian crook who registered Kith’s trademark 00:52:02 How a $20 deli experiment became Kith Treats 00:55:11 Serve your customers, don’t chase new ones 00:59:35 Always give people more than they pay for 01:02:41 Seeing 15 years of work laid out on the floor 01:12:00 Growing up before the algorithm 01:25:46 How a padel obsession created Kith Ivy