INDEX / DIRECTORY / KITH

Kith

Fashion & Apparel 71 CITED SOURCES UPDATED 2026-11-01 METHOD V6.6
Complicity Index score 310 /1000 D Tier D - Moderate
Military ↗ 0.00 Digital ↗ 0.00 Economic ↗ 3.50 Political ↗ 3.25
OWNERSHIP TREE 8 brands and group businesses View all

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Key Findings

  • Economic: KITH uses Global-E Online Ltd., an Israeli-incorporated company, for international checkout, and Global-e acts as seller of record for those orders; the contract date and value are undisclosed.1, 2
  • Political: In October 2023, Footwear News listed founder and CEO Ronnie Fieg among footwear leaders expressing support for Israel. His full statement was not reproduced, and its reach and duration are unknown.3
  • Digital: Forter, an Israeli-founded fraud-prevention vendor, is disclosed in KITH’s cookie policy; Global-e’s privacy terms permit transfers to Israel, but no actual transfer of KITH data is established.4, 5, 6
  • Not found: No public evidence identified of Israeli military, defence, settlement, Israeli-store or Israeli-subsidiary activity.7, 8

Target Profile

FieldDetail
Company NameKITH (operating entities Kith Retail, LLC and Kith Treats LLC and affiliates)9
JurisdictionKith Retail, LLC: New York limited liability company formed 11 May 2011.10 KITH LONDON LIMITED: incorporated in the United Kingdom on 1 October 2024 (company number 15991179).11
HeadquartersNew York; KITH states it was established there in 2011.7
SectorLifestyle brand and specialty retail (apparel, footwear, accessories) with hospitality businesses.7
OwnershipPrivate. A September 2026 interview describes KITH as self-funded without outside shareholders; no complete shareholder register or percentage breakdown is public.12 A secondary article reports a 2022 RedBird Capital minority stake, but no primary document was retrieved and the claim is unverified.13
Key Executives / GovernanceRonnie Fieg (founder, CEO, creative director; chairman of Kinnect Foundation).7 Sam Ben-Avraham (historically identified co-founder; current equity not established).14 UK directors: Ron Fieg and Ivo Nikolov (from 1 October 2024) and Nicholas Annacone (from 20 August 2025).15
Israeli-Nexus SummaryAn Israeli-incorporated checkout vendor (Global-e) and an Israeli-founded fraud-prevention vendor (Forter), plus one reported pro-Israel public expression by the founder-CEO in 2023. No military, settlement, Israeli-operations or Israeli-ownership evidence identified.

Key Facts:

Executive Summary

KITH is a New York fashion and lifestyle retailer. The audits identify no military, settlement or Israeli-store operations and no Israeli subsidiary, parent or state shareholder. Its documented Israel-related connections are one commercial vendor relationship and one reported political expression.

The commercial vector is KITH’s outsourced international checkout. KITH’s own pages identify Global-E Online Ltd. as international checkout partner and seller of record.1 Global-E’s SEC filings establish Israeli incorporation in 2013 and principal offices in Petah Tikva.2, 18 KITH’s cookie policy also names Forter as its fraud-prevention provider; Forter’s website identifies Israeli founders and a Tel Aviv office.4, 5 The audits do not establish contract values, start dates, fees or whether any KITH customer record reached Israel.6

The political vector is a single October 2023 Footwear News LinkedIn post listing Fieg among footwear leaders voicing support for Israel after the Hamas-led attacks.3 The post does not reproduce his full statement, and the Instagram Story’s duration, reach and present availability are unknown. No separate KITH corporate statement on Israel/Palestine was identified.19

Not supported by evidence: any contract with Israeli defence or security bodies, dual-use or tactical products, Israeli-origin or settlement-origin goods, Israeli revenue, donations to the IDF, FIDF, JNF or settlement organisations, lobbying, or BDS campaigns naming KITH. The result is BRS 310, Tier D (Moderate Complicity), driven by Economic 3.50 and Political 3.25, with Military and Digital at 0.00.

Timeline of Relevant Events

DateEvent
2011KITH established in New York; Kith Retail, LLC formed 11 May 2011.7, 10
~2010 [pre-2020]Ben-Avraham describes an early personal investment in Fieg’s developing business; amount and current status unknown.20
21 Feb 2013Global-E Online Ltd. incorporated in Israel.18
Oct 2023Footwear News identifies Fieg among footwear leaders expressing support for Israel.3
7 Dec 20231792 Exchange assessment: KITH then had no PAC or lobbying; no viewpoint protections identified for employees.21
1 Oct 2024KITH LONDON LIMITED incorporated; Fieg and Nikolov appointed directors.11, 15
21 Apr 2025KITH terms updated, describing the Global-e international checkout relationship.9
Apr 2025Cookie policy identifies Forter and Global-e.4
20 Aug 2025Annacone appointed UK director.15
7 May 2026Global-e consumer privacy policy updated: EEA/Ireland servers, possible transfers to Israel.6
29 Sep 2026Complex interview describes KITH as self-funded without outside shareholders.12
28 Oct 2026KITH’s international-order page still names Global-e as seller of record.1

Corporate Overview

KITH’s terms identify Kith Retail, LLC and Kith Treats LLC and affiliates as operators of its websites, apps and services.9 Its privacy statement names Kith Retail LLC as data controller and Kith Paris SARL as European contact; the equity ownership of the latter is not established.22, 23 The UK arm, KITH LONDON LIMITED, is a clothing retailer with three directors.11, 15

Kinnect Foundation is the philanthropic arm; Fieg chairs its board. Its mission centres on education and community support for underserved young people, and no Israeli recipient is identified.7, 24

No public evidence identified of an Israeli subsidiary, joint venture, franchise, importer, office, warehouse or workforce. Global-e is an independent counterparty with its own subsidiaries (Globale UK Limited, Global-e US Inc., Flow Commerce Inc.); the audits do not link these to KITH contractually.25

Domain Summaries

Military: Military

Mechanism of Involvement

No mechanism identified. No public evidence identified of contracts, tenders or supply relationships with the Israeli Ministry of Defence, IDF, Prison Service or Border Police, or of listing in defence-export directories.7 No public evidence identified of military-specification products. Documented lines are consumer apparel, footwear and collaborations.7 No public evidence identified of supply to Elbit, IAI, Rafael or Israel Military Industries. No public evidence identified of munitions, weapons systems, military logistics or base services. Hospitality (Kith Treats, Ronnie’s restaurant) is civilian.7

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

The audit found no verified named-company finding in the OHCHR settlement database, UN A/HRC/59/23, Who Profits, AFSC Investigate or other specialist investigations searched. No public evidence identified of any military-related donation by KITH, its entities, Fieg, Ben-Avraham or Kinnect.24 Name-specific searches on principals, directors and entities yielded no verified military-channel act.15 Scored 0.00 on all three criteria because no mechanically eligible frame exists.

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Fieg, Ben-Avraham, Nikolov, Annacone, Kith Retail LLC, Kith Treats LLC, KITH LONDON LIMITED and Kinnect Foundation: no verified military-channel act identified.7, 9, 14, 11, 15, 24

Digital: Digital

Mechanism of Involvement

Two Israeli-origin commercial vendors are documented in KITH’s e-commerce stack. Global-e operates the international checkout and acts as seller of record; KITH’s cookie policy documents the Global-e session cookie.1, 4 Forter provides fraud prevention and behavioural monitoring of website interactions.4, 5 KITH’s UK cookie policy corroborates both.26 Global-e’s privacy policy lists processed data (names, emails, addresses, payment information, potentially customs identity documents) and states servers are in the EEA, with storage and processing in Ireland. It also says information may be transferred to Israel, the UK, the EU and the US.6

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

These are ordinary commercial SaaS and payments integrations. KITH’s disclosures describe international commerce and fraud prevention with no Israeli military agency as beneficiary.4, 6 The audit does not establish whether any KITH record was transferred to, accessed from or processed in Israel. Forter’s data location, contracting entity and start date are unknown.5

No public evidence identified of Project Nimbus participation, Israeli data centres, Israeli R&D, facial recognition or biometrics from Israeli vendors, AI supplied to state bodies, offensive cyber, or technology investments or acquisitions in Israel. No public evidence identified of direct licensing of Check Point, Wiz, SentinelOne, CyberArk, NICE, Verint, Claroty or Palo Alto Networks. Vendor use is not itself a qualifying military or surveillance result, so Digital is scored 0.00.

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Global-E Online Ltd. (Israeli incorporation documented),2, 18 Global-e US Inc. (agent for service of process; not established as KITH’s counterparty),2 Forter,5 Kith Retail LLC,4 Kith Paris SARL,23 Fieg and Ben-Avraham (no qualifying technology investment established).12

Economic: Economic

Mechanism of Involvement

KITH outsources international checkout and seller-of-record services to Global-E Online Ltd.1 Global-e is Israeli-incorporated with principal offices in Petah Tikva, and its Form 20-F identifies material Israeli operations.2 The arrangement was dated by KITH’s April 2025 terms after both July and November 2024 and was still displayed on 28 October 2026.9, 1 Customers can prepay duties and import fees; DHL Express is the named carrier.27

Global-e reported 2025 gross merchandise value of $6.569 billion across all merchants, which cannot be attributed to KITH.28 Global-e’s May 2026 filing and June 2025 AGM at Petah Tikva corroborate its continued Israeli presence.29

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

The strongest defence is that KITH is a merchant buying a service from a foreign vendor. The relationship does not mean Israeli-origin goods, Israeli sales or Israeli investment. The audit notes the arrangement does not establish that merchandise originates in Israel. Fees, volumes, entity and inception date are undisclosed.1

No public evidence identified of Israeli suppliers (Mehadrin, Hadiklaim, Galilee Export), Israeli manufacturing, settlement-origin products, an Israeli subsidiary, stores, office, workforce, revenue, bonds or defence-company holdings. No public evidence identified of customs or labelling enforcement or a policy on settlement goods.

Ownership is uncertain. Ben-Avraham’s Jerusalem upbringing and early investment are documented, but current equity and any Israeli destination for profits are not.14, 20, 17 The RedBird report comes from a secondary source, its percentage is unverified, and the audit found no Israeli investment tied to it.13 The Complex interview describes KITH as self-funded without outside shareholders.12

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Kith Retail LLC (acting entity; contracting entity undisclosed),9, 1 Global-E Online Ltd.,2 Globale UK, Global-e US and Flow Commerce (subsidiaries),25 DHL Express,27 Ben-Avraham,20 RedBird (reported, unverified),13 and Hirshleifers and Selfridges (shop-in-shop hosts, no Israel link found).8

Political: Political

Mechanism of Involvement

Footwear News’s October 2023 LinkedIn post identifies Fieg, KITH’s founder and CEO, among footwear leaders expressing support for Israel after the Hamas-led attacks.3 The adjudicated scoring treats the act as active institutional/state legitimation. Because the actor is the controlling principal, proximity is direct. The record does not establish alignment with Israeli government goals, a state partnership, financing or structured advocacy.

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

The evidence is secondhand: a third-party post, not a KITH statement. The complete statement is not reproduced, and its Instagram Story duration, audience and removal are unknown.3 No separate KITH Retail corporate statement on Palestinian casualties, military operations, settlements or a ceasefire was found.19 Expression of solidarity after an attack is not state partnership or funding.

No public evidence identified of: a payment by KITH or Fieg to the IDF, FIDF, JNF/KKL, Regavim, Im Tirtzu or settlement bodies; lobbying or PAC activity (per the December 2023 1792 Exchange assessment, which predates 2024 and does not cover 2024–2026);21 AIPAC sponsorship; employee dismissals over Palestine-related expression; BDS campaigns naming KITH; legal action over settlement operations; or Israeli state honours. KITH’s documented philanthropy is educational (Kinnect Scholars, 2025 and 2026 Scholar ice-cream commitments), with no Israeli recipient.30, 24 KITH’s earlier public stance on racial-justice causes (2020) is documented for comparison only and carries no Israel nexus.21

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Fieg (statement; no financing identified),3 Ben-Avraham,14 Nikolov and Annacone (no political activity identified),15 Kith Paris SARL,23 Kith Treats LLC and Kinnect Foundation (no Israel-related grants identified).30, 24

Complicity Index Score

Method: V6.6 (vetted).

DomainIMPV-Domain Score
Military0.000.000.000.00
Digital0.000.000.000.00
Economic3.507.007.803.50
Political6.503.509.003.25

V_MAX is set by Economic: the Global-e checkout relationship is Low-band impact (3.50) with M=7.00 and P=7.80, so M and P are capped at 1 in the formula. Political scores lower (3.25) because a single expression by the controlling principal, rated I=6.5 and P=9.0, carries only M=3.5. Military and Digital are zero because no mechanically eligible frame was found. The total of 310 falls in Tier D (200–399). The method is scale-free and evidence-only; the values are examiner-adjudicated and fixed, with formula V = I × min(M/7,1) × min(P/7,1).

Methodology Note

Footnotes

  1. https://kith.com/pages/international-orders ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  2. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1835963/000117891326001772/zk2634880.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  3. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/footwear-news_kenneth-cole-ronnie-fieg-more-footwear-activity-7117955783752908800-oxnd ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  4. https://kith.com/pages/cookie-policy ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  5. https://www.forter.com/company/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  6. https://www.global-e.com/consumer-privacy-policy ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  7. https://kith.com/pages/about ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  8. https://kith.com/pages/locations ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. https://kith.com/pages/terms-and-conditions ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  10. https://lei.bloomberg.com/leis/view/9845005EDG884065E851 ↩ ↩2

  11. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/15991179 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  12. https://www.complex.com/style/a/noah-callahan-bever/ronnie-fieg-kith-15-year-anniversary-interview-idea-generation ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  13. https://legalclarity.org/who-owns-kith-founders-backers-and-investors/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  14. https://businessoffashion-businessoffashion-prod.web.arc-cdn.net/articles/retail/where-next-for-kiths-hype-machine/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  15. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/15991179/officers ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  16. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/15991179/persons-with-significant-control ↩

  17. https://forward.com/schmooze/432764/is-an-israeli-fashion-mogul-about-to-save-barneys-from-liquidation/ ↩ ↩2

  18. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1835963/000117891322001269/zk2227522.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  19. https://web.archive.org/web/20260812011405/https://kith.com/blogs/discover ↩ ↩2

  20. https://www.fulllengthmirror.me/profiles/an-interview-with-sam-ben-avraham ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  21. https://1792exchange.com/corporate-bias-ratings/company/kith/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  22. https://kith.com/pages/privacy-policy ↩

  23. https://eu.kith.com/pages/privacy-policy ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  24. https://kinnectfoundation.org/pages/about-us ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  25. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1835963/000117891325001086/zk2532899.htm ↩ ↩2

  26. https://uk.kith.com/pages/cookie-policy ↩

  27. https://kith.com/policies/shipping-policy ↩ ↩2

  28. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1835963/000117891326001948/zk2635005.htm ↩

  29. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1835963/000117891326002583/zk2635292.htm ↩

  30. https://kith.com/blogs/discover/kith-treats-kinnect-present-the-scholar-2026 ↩ ↩2