Ronnie Fieg has been working with New Balance since the same year he founded Kith — 2011. Fifteen years. Ninety-two unique collaborations on existing silhouettes: the 990, 993, 998, 1500, 2002R, 1300, 1400. Every single one built on a model that already existed. Then in June 2026, he changed that. The New Balance 2011 is Fieg's first original silhouette — a shoe he co-designed, carrying a model number no one had used before, named after the year his brand was born. It dropped June 26 at Kith West Hollywood, then globally on June 29 at kith.com.
Four colourways: Leaf Green, Sakura Flower, Bark, Redwood. Bark and Redwood stayed exclusive to the West Hollywood location. Leaf and Sakura went worldwide. This isn't another collab drop dressed up with a press release. This is fifteen years of learning a brand from the inside, expressed as one new shape.
Why This Shoe Exists — The 15-Year Story
Ronnie Fieg didn't start as a designer. He started as a salesman at David Z, a New York sporting goods institution where he learned sneaker retail from age fifteen. By the time he opened Kith in 2011, he'd spent years understanding what makes a sneaker valuable, desirable, and worth keeping — not from a fashion perspective, but from a consumer one. His early New Balance collabs weren't fashion statements. They were product refinements: better materials, more considered colourways, the choices a person who actually sells shoes cares about.
The "2011" name is intentional. Kith's founding year. The colourway progression — Leaf Green to Sakura Flower to Bark to Redwood — maps the growth metaphor Fieg built into the shoe's story: a sapling becoming a tree. It sounds like marketing until you realise the man literally co-designed this with Sam Pearce, the New Balance designer behind the celebrated 991v2. That's not a brand partnership. That's a working relationship between two people who understand construction. According to SneakerNews's confirmed release profile, the 2011 was developed over multiple years — not rushed to market on a collab cycle.
The 991v2 comparison matters here. Pearce's previous major work is praised for exactly what it doesn't do: no unnecessary panels, no forced premium cues, proportions that work in person rather than just in photos. The New Balance 2011 shows the same restraint. The silhouette sits lower than current maximalist NB options — closer in DNA to the heritage 990 family than the elevated 1906R. That's a deliberate choice, and the right one.
Materials and Construction
The upper layers suede, premium leather, and mesh — a material combination closer to the Made in USA 990 series in terms of intentionality than the M2002R, which trades some construction depth for a lower price. The ABZORB midsole unit is borrowed from the New Balance 2002, giving the shoe a soft underfoot feel without the stacked sole height that's become default on boutique collabs. It sits lower than you expect for a 2026 premium release, which is either a problem or a feature depending on your taste. It's a feature.
One honest note: the suede on the Leaf Green and Sakura colourways can start to pill on high-wear areas faster than expected. This isn't a defect — it's standard behaviour for quality suede uppers. Buy a suede protector on day one. Crep Protect or Sneaker Lab's spray. Don't skip this.
India: How to Get This Shoe and What It Will Cost
Kith doesn't ship directly to India as of this writing. The fastest route is a package forwarding service — Shipito and MyUS are the most reliable options used by Indian sneakerheads for US boutique purchases. Alternatively, Superkicks in Mumbai has previously received allocation on select international boutique collabs; a direct call is worth making. MainStreet Marketplace in Mumbai is another option. If you're in Delhi, a trusted proxy buyer or forwarding service is the practical path.
Price estimate: Kith's recent New Balance collabs have retailed between $150 and $220 USD. The 2011, as Fieg's first original silhouette, likely sits at the higher end — approximately $185–$220. At current exchange rates, that's ₹15,700–18,700 at retail. Add forwarding service fees (₹1,500–2,000) and Indian customs duty on imported footwear (approximately 30%), and the all-in landed cost sits at ₹22,000–26,000. Via Indian grey market resellers post-release, expect ₹25,000–30,000.
The India colourway call: Sakura Flower — soft pink tones, light suede — is likely the most in-demand here. Indian streetwear has moved hard into pastel palettes over wide-leg silhouettes since 2025. But the Sakura will show wear faster on Mumbai and Delhi commutes. Leaf Green is the smarter practical choice for actual Indian conditions — more forgiving as a colour, same construction quality. Buying to wear: Leaf Green. Buying to keep clean: Sakura. Know which matters more before you spend ₹25,000 landing it.
The Verdict: Is ₹22,000–30,000 Justified?
The New Balance 2011 is not a gimmick. This isn't Ronnie Fieg doing a 93rd collab in a slightly different upper shape and calling it original. It genuinely represents something: a designer who spent fifteen years studying a brand's material language, working directly with its engineers, and eventually producing a sentence of his own. That's rare in sneaker culture. Most boutique collab work produces remixes. This produced something new.
The ₹22,000–30,000 import cost is real. Whether it's justified depends on what you want. For technical performance, look elsewhere. For a piece that will be studied the way collectors now study the first Kith x NB 990 from 2011 — expensive then, artefact now — the entry price is defensible. The Leaf Green and Sakura colourways will hold secondary market value better than the West Hollywood exclusives, counterintuitively, because the exclusive pairs are being treated as shelf pieces and barely circulating.
For Indian buyers tracking New Balance seriously this year, this is the most significant new NB silhouette story since the Grey Days 2026 calendar confirmed how deep the brand's 2026 pipeline runs. Browse our New Balance collection for current in-stock options. And for context on what other boutique NB collabs look like when they reach India, read the JJJJound x New Balance 1890 deep dive — a useful comparison on when the import math actually works.
