Kith is putting Ronnie Fieg's footwear archive on public display for the first time, in a three-day exhibition in Brooklyn from Friday, Sept. 25, through Sunday, Sept. 27. It runs from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. daily at 25 Kent Avenue, 6th Floor, on the Williamsburg waterfront, according to Kith. The exhibit is part of Kith's 15th-anniversary rollout and shows every footwear model catalogued in the new book Kith: The Footwear Archive.
What's on display
Kith describes the archive as more than 1,800 collaborative footwear models from Fieg's personal collection. That includes released pairs alongside unreleased and developmental prototypes and friends-and-family pairs that have never been shown publicly. Outlets give slightly different totals: Footwear News counts 1,848 pairs, 776 that went on sale plus 1,072 unreleased prototypes and friends-and-family exclusives, and Sole Retriever counts 1,849. The shoes are laid out in the same chronological order by brand as in the book, Sole Retriever reports.
Visitors can buy the Classic edition of the book at the exhibit ahead of its global launch, per Kith. Kith has not said whether entry requires an RSVP, and no shoes are listed for sale.
Notable pairs in the archive include Nike Blazer, Blazer Low and Air Force 1 Low pairs made only for Fieg's wedding party, per Footwear News. JustFreshKicks reports the book previews prototypes of the Pippen 1, Maestro 2 High, LeBron 15, Air Force 1, Bape Sta, 997 and 530. In a Kith app livestream, Fieg also showed Air Force 1 Low samples planned for a 2020 Kith fashion show that was scrapped because of the pandemic, Sole Retriever reported.
The book
Kith: The Footwear Archive is a 444-page volume published by Assouline and conceived as a catalogue raisonné, according to Kith. It is the largest volume in Assouline's Classics Collection to date. Longtime Kith collaborator Tyler Mansour shot the whole book. The first half shows about 700 released pairs, and the second half indexes the archive chronologically by brand, from concept to final product. Brands include adidas, ASICS, Clarks Originals, Moncler, New Balance, Nike, On and Timberland.
The Classic edition launches Sept. 30, "fifteen years to the day Kith was founded," exclusively at Kith stores worldwide, Kith.com and the Kith app. Assouline boutiques get it Dec. 9. An Ultimate Edition of 300 individually numbered copies, signed by Fieg and packed in a leather clamshell box, also launches Sept. 30 exclusively through Assouline boutiques, per Footwear News. Pricing for either edition has not been announced.
Work on the book began two years ago, when the pairs were laid out across the 20,000-square-foot second floor of Kith's office. "I got to walk around that space and see all of my work for the first time in one place," Fieg told Footwear News. "That was really an emotional period for me."
"The true DNA of the brand and what I do creatively started with footwear," Fieg said in Kith's announcement. "This book is proof that we built something that didn't exist before." He added: "I think about the twenty-year book, the thirty-year book. Everything I work on now is part of that story."
The anniversary rollout
Kith's anniversary rollout also includes a remastered ASICS Gel-Lyte III "Salmon Toe," returning Sept. 28. The original launched with the first Kith store in 2011, and Kith has marked each five-year anniversary since with a Salmon Toe ASICS release, including a Gel-Lyte 5 for its 10th. Fieg told Footwear News the remaster is "a bit less saturated, which I think makes it a lot easier to wear." Earlier this year Fieg also unveiled the New Balance 2011, his first original silhouette with the brand. Nike and Kith plan a 16-silhouette collection in 2027 for Kith's "Sweet 16," Sole Retriever reports.
The Brooklyn show follows another retailer's look back: in June, Boston's Bodega marked its 20th anniversary with an archives exhibition.
Source: Kith, Footwear News, Sole Retriever
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