RONNIE FIEG WENT FROM A STOCK ROOM TO THE KNICKS

Ronnie Fieg is the American designer who founded Kith, the New York sneaker and clothing retailer, and who has run it as chief executive and creative director since 2011. In November 2022 he also became the first ever creative director of the New York Knicks. Wikipedia gives his birth year as 1982 and his birthplace as Jamaica, Queens, and every account of his career begins in a sneaker store.

A Stock Boy at David Z Around Age 13

Fieg started at David Z, a New York sneaker and sportswear chain founded by David Zaken, when he was about 13, and worked up from stock boy to buyer. Accounts disagree on how he is related to Zaken, with sources calling him a first cousin, a second cousin and a mother's cousin, so that detail is not settled here.

They also disagree on how long he stayed. Business of Fashion has him leaving after 15 years of service to open his own shop, while another account gives three. The reporting on who owns Kith uses the 15 year version. Either way, the buyer job at David Z is where the ASICS relationship began.

252 Pairs of a Running Shoe in 2007

His first collaboration was the ASICS GEL Lyte III "252 Pack" in 2007, three colorways made while he was head buyer at David Z. Each was produced in a run of 252 pairs, according to coverage at the time, and the shoes sold through David Z at $90.

That shoe is still the spine of his career. Kith reworked it in 2020 as the GEL Lyte III "252.1" inside the Tokyo Trio, which Kith describes as a reimagining of his first ever collaboration, released July 27, 2020 at $180. The silhouette itself, a split tongue runner designed by Shigeyuki Mitsui in 1990, is covered in the GEL Lyte III history, and the 2026 Salmon Toe remaster brought it back for the brand's fifteenth anniversary.

Two Rooms Behind Atrium, $500,000, 2011

Kith opened in 2011 as a shop within a shop at Atrium, the SoHo boutique run by Sam Ben-Avraham. Business of Fashion reported that the two men put $500,000 into two locations, one in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn. Wikipedia dates the founding to 2011; The Founder Hour says 2010, and MR Magazine puts the opening of the one room store in November 2011.

Atrium did not outlast the partnership. Snobette reported that it went into clearance ahead of closing on July 3, 2016, and VMSD reported that Kith took 3,000 square feet of it in SoHo. The brand still dates its own start to September 30, 2011, which is the day the original Salmon Toe colorway is tied to. Ownership stayed private: the reporting reviewed names Fieg and Ben-Avraham and no outside buyer, and no stake size has been published.

The Knicks Hired a Retailer in November 2022

Kith's work with the Knicks began in 2020 with a collaborative apparel collection and a City Edition uniform. In November 2022 the team named Fieg its first ever creative director, a role covering marketing, content and merchandise, announced around Kith Night at Madison Square Garden. MSG Sports executive David Hopkinson said the job was meant to give the team a distinctive look and feel.

That role keeps surfacing in the product. An April 2026 Knicks playoffs collection with Giorgio Armani tied the team, the retailer and an Italian house together. The Knicks also won the 2026 title, and the parade on June 18 put the team's new look in front of the city.

Armani, BMW and a 444 Page Book

By 2026 the sneaker buyer was running projects well outside footwear. Dreams of the Dune, the third Armani collaboration, ran 54 looks and was staged in the Agafay Desert in October 2026, the sixth Armani project Kith had taken on since August 28, 2024. Kith for BMW chapter four rebuilt a 1972 BMW 3.0 CSi and a 1987 M6 as design references, and neither car is for sale. A $599 Bugaboo stroller carried the Kith monogram.

The anniversary proved how much he had logged. Kith showed 1,849 collaborative pairs at 25 Kent Avenue in September 2026, indexed in a 444 page Assouline book. The count began with a 252 pair run in 2007.

Where the Accounts Still Disagree

Three points stay unresolved in public reporting: how long Fieg worked at David Z, whether Kith began in 2010 or 2011, and how Zaken is related to him. Valuation figures such as $400 million circulate on content sites without a cited transaction, so none is repeated here. The firm facts are the 2007 ASICS run, the $500,000 partnership with Ben-Avraham, and the November 2022 Knicks appointment.