KITH INDEXES 1,849 PAIRS ACROSS A BROOKLYN FLOOR

Kith Footwear Archive turns 1,849 footwear collaborations into a walkable collection at 25 Kent Avenue in Brooklyn. The exhibition places the shoes in the same sequence as its accompanying book, giving visitors a way to move between a physical pair and a printed index.

In Kith's film, rows of white display boxes run beneath concrete columns. Some shoes are immediately legible through colour or a familiar mark; others need the label beside them. A Coca Cola Converse pair, a BAPE card dated 2016 and the pale upper of a Linen Air Force 1 interrupt the long white grid. The display makes even a recognisable sneaker part of a larger sequence.

The timing coincides with Kith's fifteenth anniversary. Its recent Salmon Toe remaster revisited an early shoe and packaged a reference to the first store alongside it. At 25 Kent, the anniversary expands from one revisited release to the full collection of collaborations named in the archive.

1,849 Pairs Share a Single Sequence

Kith says the exhibition contains all 1,849 footwear collaborations documented by the archive. Their arrangement follows the book's indexing system, so the display and the printed record can be read together.

That order gives a visitor something more useful than a wall of famous pairs. A shoe can be located within a sequence instead of floating free as a favourite. In the film, the repeated boxes hold the display height steady while uppers, soles and colour treatments change. The white supports make a patterned collaboration stand out, but they also leave room for quieter differences between similar silhouettes.

The quantity invites a broad survey; the labels ask for a slower look. Kith's filmed pass through the room alternates between the long rows and individual shoes, showing both ways of encountering the collection. A person interested in one partner can stop at particular entries, while a reader following the book can use the index as a route.

444 Pages Give the Shoes Another Address

The accompanying book runs to 444 pages, according to Kith's exhibition announcement. The shared indexing allows a physical object in Brooklyn to point toward an entry that remains accessible after the temporary display closes.

The book stacks visible in the film make that second form of the archive tangible. Their rectangular bulk repeats the boxes under the shoes, but the scale is compressed: rows spread across a floor become pages someone can turn. Neither format reproduces the other completely. The photograph fixes a view, while a shoe on a stand allows attention to move around its shape.

Kith's Linen Air Force 1 collection is a useful entry point because its pale upper is easy to recognise among louder treatments. In the exhibition footage, that familiar colour becomes a reason to stop and read the surrounding display. Recognition can start the visit without determining its whole route.

Six Floors Up, With Free Public Hours

The exhibition occupies the sixth floor of 25 Kent Avenue, with Kith directing visitors to the north entrance. Public hours are noon to 6 p.m. from September 25 through September 27, and general exhibition entry is free.

Kith's visitor FAQ explicitly separates those hours from buying the book. A book purchase is not required to enter the public exhibition. That distinction matters for anyone who encountered the archive through a sales announcement or a panel reservation offer and assumed the whole room required a purchase.

The stated address and floor are more useful than simply calling the event a Williamsburg opening. Visitors are heading to a temporary exhibition occupying 25 Kent’s sixth floor, reached through the north entrance. The September 27 closing date also gives the physical display a much shorter life than the book.

Four Partners Have Separate Panel Access

Kith lists conversations involving New Balance, Nike, adidas and ASICS alongside Ronnie Fieg. Entry to those panels requires a confirmed reservation, even though general exhibition viewing is free.

The difference is between seeing the objects and attending a scheduled conversation. A visitor can plan around the public viewing hours without assuming a place at a panel or book signing. Kith's FAQ treats the limited panel spaces as a separate reservation process, so an exhibition visit should not be read as a promise of access to every event in the programme.

Another recent archive presentation, Nike at MAD, placed footwear within a museum setting. Kith's room starts from its own collaborations and their printed index. Those are different ways of deciding what belongs beside what: one curator's wider selection, and one retailer's accumulated record of partnerships.

September 30 Extends the Archive Beyond Brooklyn

The book's Classic edition is scheduled to launch on September 30 through Kith stores, its website and its app. Kith identifies that date as fifteen years after its founding.

The exhibition closes before that wider book release, leaving two distinct windows. September 25 to 27 is the chance to walk among the shoes at 25 Kent; September 30 is the announced opening for the Classic edition across Kith's channels. With 1,849 pairs indexed across a 444 page book, the strongest reason to visit is the part the printed version cannot supply: the distance between one display box and the next.