By Michela Arlia
CUNY officially announced its partnership with the New York based clothing brand Kith for its fall 2022 collection launching Sept. 9. The collection, entitled “Kith & Russell Athletic for CUNY,” is a 20-piece collection of various clothing items made especially for two of CUNY’s campuses, Queens College and Brooklyn College.
“Our goal for this partnership was to build school pride for students and alumni, while supporting the colleges’ aims to foster future students’ growth,” explains a written statement on the company’s website, noting that its nonprofit organization, the Kinnect Foundation, intends to award grants to both campuses for student scholarships.
“To accomplish this, we have awarded grants of $25,000 to each school to further their education initiatives within various departments, as well as created apparel capsules inspired by the academic institutions,” the statement read.
Kith advertises itself as a multifunctional lifestyle brand for men, women, and kids, as well as a progressive retail establishment. The company was founded by Ronnie Fieg, a Queens native and known figure in the footwear industry with over twenty years of experience. With seven brick-and-mortar flagship stores, three shop-in-shops, a cereal bar, and even a restaurant, the brand has carried its products throughout the country and overseas.
Students at both CUNY campuses were able to gain early access on Sept. 2 to the brand’s collection with Russel Athletic ahead of public launch by creating accounts on the Kith app with their student emails.
“Like most Kith collections, we expect there to be a high demand, however, Brooklyn College students will have the exclusive opportunity to shop the collection ahead of the public launch,” read a student-wide email sent on Aug. 31. The apparel includes sweatshirts, t-shirts, varsity jackets, and other pieces that reinterpret BC’s logos, crests, and extracurricular clubs, the email explained.
While an innovative partnership for both the school and company, mixed reactions from Instagram users highlight excitement for the collection, but others showed hints of favoritism to some CUNY campuses over others.
“This is so dope, cuny rarely get the love,” one Instagram user, @arnoldfitness, wrote.
User @a.ayalaaa, however, did not seem as excited, commenting on Kith’s Instagram announcement, “But not Baruch college???????”
Some users outside of CUNY even requested collections from the brand at schools like New York University.
Among the concerns of favoritism include comments about pricing. Kith is notorious for having high luxury prices, something not every CUNY student can afford.
“This is great, but please price these pieces in a way CUNY students can actually buy them,” commented user @gregy_c. “The quality of Kith is deserving its cost but it’s gonna suck knowing these kids might have early access but no means to buy.”
Another user, @gav1nmata, expressed the same concerns. “I can’t even afford a t shirt from y’all,” they said.