Building the Streetwear Empire Kith | Ronnie Fieg

David Senra (0:02)

I wish we just recorded the conversation we were just having, but I love what you just said. So you're like, hey, my favorite entrepreneurs cannot work backwards for money. Say more about this.

Ronnie Fieg (0:11)

Yeah, it's true. Even some of the biggest companies in the world, take Apple and Steve Jobs, who's one of your favorite icons ever, if not your favorite, right?

David Senra (0:20)

One of them, yeah.

Ronnie Fieg (0:21)

Okay, but when you see the product he was making, you can actually tell that there was passion behind trying to make product that was going to change his own life, right? And I felt like even then, when the iPod really changed the trajectory of the company, you could feel the passion through the product, and that legacy lives on, like even with the duo that we're seeing now, you could see that legacy live on. Is it on par with what Steve Jobs may have designed? We will never know, but ultimately, he created an ethos that I believe really transcended, and that feeling that penetrated everyone's lives, really, affected us in so many ways. I don't apply that to my business. It's just naturally there, because when I grew up, I became passionate about my world at such a young age. And I think that that's the most important element of anyone's or any entrepreneur's success. If you listen to most of them, they'll explain how their passion started so young in their, you know, when they were so early in their lives. Whereas, you know, in my case, it started when I was 13, and I started working in a stock room.

But even before then, I always wanted to dress fly in school, and my parents couldn't afford to buy me the things I wanted. So back then, I went to work strictly for the purpose of like being able to buy my own shit and just dress the way I wanted to dress.

And that's how it started. And I think the passion for that grew, and as I learned about product, it just grew more and more. But getting my foot in the door and knowing what I wanted to do from such an early age gave me the, I think, gave me the upper hand.

David Senra (1:58)

But how does like a 12 or 13 year old kid get interested in like fashion? Is this coming from like hip hop culture? Like what was going on in your life? Or is it like, man, I want to I want to come to school dressed and fly.

Ronnie Fieg (2:06)

So I'll tell you. So growing up, up until fourth grade, my parents sent me to a private school to a yeshiva.

And in fourth grade, they couldn't afford to send me there anymore. Actually, my grandfather was helping my mom send me to a private school. And then in fourth grade, they couldn't do it anymore. So they pulled me out and then they put me in the public school closest to my house. So I grew up in Jamaica, Queens. So I went to PS 178 And when I attended 178, it was like a culture shock for me because it was so many different cultures. It was like the biggest melting pot ever. And you know, Queens is the biggest melting pot in the world. So we got to see or I got to see from day one, so many different cultures in the way people were dressing and the styles. And really, there was like a small crew of kids, like six or seven of them, that befriended me right away. And these kids, like that was back when, you know, Polo, Tommy and Nautica were like, were really, were really big.

David Senra (3:05)

We're around the same age. I remember this.

Ronnie Fieg (3:06)

Yes. So it was, are you 82? Where are you?

David Senra (3:09)

84

Ronnie Fieg (3:10)

That era of like, and then going into middle school, it became even more important. So more important in the way that you were dressing, you know? So I found myself, you know, really wanting, you know, I used to have to borrow my friend's clothes. Like.

David Senra (3:24)

Dude, I had knockoff Tommy Hilfiger. I literally bought it at the swap shop in South Florida. We had no money. And then I got called out at school. You don't want to hear an embarrassing story. I didn't even know. You know how these hustlers in South Florida are. They took old Wendy's uniforms.

The fast food place, you would give them like a collared shirt. And I go to the swap shop, because we have no money. And you have these street vendors.