· Ronnie Fieg
[00:00:00] S1: No, it's a great question because it actually creates efficiencies when we get a sample in and then I fit the product, and during the fitting, I make all the decisions that I need to make for that one product. So I fit the product, and then I'm deciding if the fabric is right for that body. I'm making alterations to the body. Sometimes I'll even drop it and then come up with ideas on what we need to do to evolve from that body or how a specific design can be better. So I'm giving direction live during a fitting. And the team is all there, so I have 20 people at a fitting, and you have your materials team, you have your merchandisers, you have your designers, and then you have the VP of product there and some assistants, and there we're making real decisions. So, we'll make the decisions on that product, and then we'll wait for the second sample to come in, and we got to fit that, too. I think a lot of these brands cut corners. I've spoken about this a few times with different people about how the industry cuts corners. And sometimes you walk into a store and you try something on, you have a shirt from that brand that fit well, but then you try it on and it doesn't fit well, and you're like, "Well, why'd that happen? I came back for the same style." And it's because brands will want to create another version of the same style but not fit it again. So they'll apply a different fabric to the same body, but they won't fit it again, and it drapes differently, it fits differently, and they cut corners. And even there are fashion houses that do that, where you'll walk into a very expensive store and try some product on, and it doesn't fit. It fits like shit. So I'm very meticulous to every detail only because my closet-
· David Senra, Ronnie Fieg
[00:00:00] S0: Every season, I wipe it out, and then it gets replaced with the new season. So, if I'm going to be wearing the product, it better fit properly, as I'm like the representative of the brand. I want to tell you about the presenting sponsor of this podcast, Ramp. I have been reading a lot about SpaceX lately. SpaceX is one of the most valuable businesses in the world, and one of the main themes in the history of SpaceX is constantly attacking and questioning your cost. Ramp helps many of the most innovative businesses in the world do exactly that. The median company running on Ramp cuts their expenses by 5%. And one thing SpaceX has demonstrated is that a religious dedication to controlling costs can help actually increase revenue because you can pursue opportunities you couldn't otherwise. And we see that in the Ramp data, too. The median company running on Ramp also grows their revenue by 16%. So when you're running your business on Ramp and your competitors are not, you have a massive competitive advantage that compounds over time. Ramp is the only platform designed to make your finance team faster and happier. Many of the top founders and CEOs I know run their business on Ramp. I run my business on Ramp, and you should too. Go to ramp.com to learn how they can help your business save time, save money, and grow revenue. That is ramp.com. So I love how you've used the word like love- [00:00:00] S1: Yeah
· Ronnie Fieg, David Senra
[00:00:00] S1: Yeah [00:00:00] S0: ... like several times. We started the conversation, we were like, "Hey, the people I admire the most, entrepreneurs that came before us, maybe some even operating today, it's just like they're doing it for like out of... They're not doing it for money. They make money because they love it so much, and if you love it so much, you wind up building great products. And turns out, if you maintain control and build a great product, you're going to wind up with the money anyways." [00:00:00] S1: Right. [00:00:00] S0: So, the love of this, let's go back to like the story you're saying in the second. I'm kind of learning almost like the mechanics of the business as a kid. [00:00:00] S1: Yeah. [00:00:00] S0: Right? This is before you're like, "I'm learning how the business exists or a part of the business exists." [00:00:00] S1: Yeah. [00:00:00] S0: Before you kind of put your own spin on it. [00:00:00] S1: Right. It was- [00:00:00] S0: So when you're like, "Hey, I actually have my own ideas." So me and you both know Jeff Selznick, who was on this show. [00:00:00] S1: Right. [00:00:00] S0: And he told a very similar story where he was just like, "Man, I was obsessed. I was like eating at every single restaurant. I was like the weird kid that come home from after middle school and watch PBS cooking shows." [00:00:00] S1: Yeah, I saw that. [00:00:00] S0: And then he's like, "Then I'm like eating at all these restaurants, and I'm creating media about this." And he's like, "You know what? I got my own goddamn ideas on how this should be done."
· David Senra, Ronnie Fieg
[00:00:00] S0: And then he's like, "Then I'm like eating at all these restaurants, and I'm creating media about this." And he's like, "You know what? I got my own goddamn ideas on how this should be done." [00:00:00] S1: Right. [00:00:00] S0: When was that turning point in your life?
· Ronnie Fieg
[00:00:00] S1: I was so fucking obsessed with footwear. So, like when Kith opened, and we'll go back, I'll go back to your question in a second. When Kith first opened in 2011, we were a multi-brand footwear shop, and then I had projects with brands where I was working on my own versions of some of these iconic footwear silhouettes for the store. And then from there, it expanded to be a lot more. But I'm going to rewind back because I was a footwear guy, you know, and strictly footwear until 2012, 2013, right? So I was basically buying upwards of 30 million dollars at retail a year from so many different footwear brands. I was the sneaker guy before I became the shoe and boot guy when I started working. I was wearing like, Nikes were my thing before I started working in this brown shoe and boot retailer. And then I helped David because the trend of brown shoes and boots, as the weather actually got warmer and the seasons had kind of extended, and the winter kind of like shrunk to like three months instead of the four or five months that we were used to. Because it was getting cold in October back then, and then it was cold up until April, and now it's a bit different from that. So athletic footwear started to really become a trend in New York City and kind of take over that business of the brown shoe and boot world. So I helped David transition from brown shoes and boots to athletic footwear. And he knew that I was like obsessed with sneakers, so I was going to these trade shows and helping open new accounts, new footwear accounts, and then starting as an assistant buyer, being put on some of these accounts. And we built an incredible business with Onitsuka Tiger, which is Asics, and it wasn't sports style yet. It was just Onitsuka for what we were carrying, but the sales rep knew that I was a sneakerhead and knew that I was collecting product because I was collecting sneakers since like '95, right, when I turned 13. That was the first pair of shoes that I bought twice. It was a Flight 95 Jason Kidds. I don't know if you remember this, with the carbon fiber in the midsole.
· David Senra, Ronnie Fieg
[00:00:00] S0: Uh-huh. [00:00:00] S1: And it kind of looked like a spaceship, and it was the first like iteration of that kind of shoe was a basketball shoe. [00:00:00] S0: But were you buying to flip? [00:00:00] S1: No, back then there was no flipping. [00:00:00] S0: Okay. [00:00:00] S1: I was buying a second pair because I loved them so much. [00:00:00] S0: Got it. [00:00:00] S1: And the Air Max 95, the Neon 95s were like, the design language was just something we'd never seen before. I was just gravitated towards it. Come 2006, when I helped build Onitsuka Tiger to a multimillion-dollar business for David, they knew that I was heavy into footwear collecting. They knew I was a sneaker kid, so they opened up the archive for me and they were like, "Hey, do you want to look through some of these styles and work on it?" And I was like, "What do you mean by work on it?" "Oh, you could create your own version of the shoe." And I was like, "Oh." So David was already doing this with boots back in the day, but they weren't branded like David Z on the boots, but they were considered SMU, which is called a special makeup. [00:00:00] S0: Mm-hmm.