The Kith for Wilson Partnership Continues to Thrive
The success of this collaboration continues to move full steam ahead.
Last Friday marked the release of the 2025 Kith x Wilson capsule. It went live at 8am PST and, like most of their collaboration drops, their hottest items was sold out in minutes. I was lucky enough to snag a few pieces that I’m very excited to wear this summer. Kith has churned out dozens of partnership apparel lines over the years, but this is easily one of their most impressive. Let’s break down how this one in particular has been so successful.
The Kith for Wilson partnership officially launched in 2021. Kith was celebrating its 10th anniversary and had already partnered with the likes of Calvin Klein, Adidas, and Birkenstock. They were operating stores around the world and had deeply imbedded themselves into the cultural zeitgeist. The timing of the partnership was perfect because four months prior, Wilson announced they were launching a premium apparel line. They always sold clothes, but their bread and butter was on the equipment side of the business. “Just like equipment we needed to respect the brand and history but not let it get in the way of the future,” Joelle Michaeloff, Wilson Sportswear’s VP of Design, continued. “We had the honor of digging through our archives and spent time with key leaders who have been instrumental in building brands that are industry leading. But above all it was a focus on the athlete and how they live their life above anything else.”1 This wasn’t Kith’s first rodeo partnering with a recognizable sportswear company either, and they had the blueprint for exactly how to execute.
The first capsule was a huge success. They went to market with an enormous 160 piece assortment of sweaters, jackets, t-shirts, and shorts across mens and womenswear as well as cobranded tennis equipment. The marketing product photos were slightly filtered with a 90s vibe and a backdrop of the Westside Tennis Club in Forrest Hills, the home of the US Open. They opened their pop in Soho just in time for the highly anticipated tennis tournament. Everything sold out quickly in person and online. The collaboration in 2022 was also popular, though it took a different spin and was smaller in scale. They sold a very limited supply of apparel and accessories and at the Hampton Racquet private country club where their logos were also on the tennis courts. Wilson was focused on a number of activations across New York City that summer so that might have led to the shift. They also created a co-branded, all black basketball as Kith’s partnership with the New York Knicks was starting to become increasingly popular.
2023 brought even more hits on the apparel side. Once the items were sold out on the Kith website, they began fetching a hefty premium on the resale websites. One of the few remaining jackets from this collection is currently selling on StockX for $3k. This was more proof that they had something consumers crave almost every season. They didn’t partner together in 2024 but this year’s partnership is doing well yet again. They increased their marketing spend by introducing a traveling boutique - a retrofitted double decker bus that stopped at Potters Field Park, Covent Garden, and Battersea Power Station in London. Customers were able to buy items a week a head of their online release. These pop ups wouldn’t be complete without some Kith Treats, so baked goods were also available for purchase. Consumers are starting to crave more and more experiential events from their favorite brands, and Kith for Wilson gave them exactly what they wanted.
Kith for Wilson continues to be a perfect example of a collaboration that makes sense AND has staying power. Plenty of brands will do hot one-offs, but this speaks to their knowledge of what resonates within the market. Since tennis has become part of Kith’s sports marketing strategy, they’ve also taken it a step further and have begun renovating tennis courts across the world. So far they’ve been able transform the Ella Fitzgerald Playground in Queens, NYC, two tennis courts at the Fête le Mur youth center, and three courts at the Yardley Tennis Club in Birmingham, England. I anticipate this partnership will continue to blossom with the potential for capsules across basketball and football.
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