The Spring Style Issue

Kith & King: Ronnie Fieg's streetwear meets-luxury empire was built on his savvy sense of style and hype. How long can he maintain his Midas touch?

- Kareem Rashed

Fashion has to reflect who you are, how you feel at that moment and where you're going. - Pharrell Williams

Ronnie Fieg isn't a designer, per se, though he's more than just a retailer. The 39-year-old founder of Kith, a shoe store that grew into a brand of its own, plays many parts, but his single greatest talent maybe knowing how to create a vibe.

While this is clear from entering any one of his stores, from Los Angeles to London, it is particularly apparent when visiting the company's headquarters. Located in an industrial, glass-clad complex on the Williamsburg waterfront, the lofty, almost 5,600sqm space hums with 120 cool-kid employees looking like a cross-section of any fashionable Brooklyn coffeeshop. A long hallway is flanked by glass vitrines, their shelves lined with sneakers displayed like rare specimens at the Museum of Natural History; a glass-walled, triple-height wardrobe provides similarly museum-worthy storage for the brand's clothing archive.

Fieg's corner suite frames sweeping views of the Manhattan skyline with concrete beams and lustrous carpeting, marble and brass. Big-boy toys abound. A turntable is loaded with a limited-edition Kith pressing of the Notorious BIG's Ready to Die, velvet upholstery is adorned with Kith x New York Yankees wool pillows, cacti are potted in Kith terracotta planters, a BMX bike rests on the credenza, collectible figurines by Bearbrick and plaster basketballs by Daniel Arsham - both frequent Kith collaborators - line the window ledges and climb up the wall, a walk-in closet brims with sneakers from floor to ceiling.