Roger Federer and his friend designer announced the launch of a new performance and lifestyle On-Running shoe collection that will be sold in Kith stores. Ronnie Fieg revealed the story behind the new shoe collection on his Instagram account.
“I met Roger for the first time at an event in New York in 2017 through my good friend Nick. What I remember most is how welcoming and approachable he was. Over the next few years I would hear about him popping into our [Kith retailing] stores unannounced and staying up on what we were working on.
Then in late 2020 I met the good people at On who showed me the first silhouette they designed with Roger. I loved the silhouette immediately. I thought it was the strongest model they had made thus far and I wanted to support it in a major way , which led to Kith becoming the exclusive retailer for THE ROGER Pro.
After its launch, On called me and said Roger had heard about how much I loved the shoe and wanted to discuss a partnership. I spoke with Roger and the On team about wanting this to be very personal. With us both being “RF” I wanted each pair to have a personal touch.
So, over the next two years we began poring over every detail. There are 2 RF’s, so we created a two-shoe double box set. One style is designed for performance and the other for lifestyle. Roger told me a story about how he got started in tennis as a ball boy at his local court, which was red clay.
He said his shoes would always be covered in clay when he got home, which is a concept we ran with. So I used an all-white base for both models so that we could have red clay rubbed in as a design element. The Mid comes pre-rubbed, while the Pro comes with a small bag of clay and instructions on how to do it yourself.
We also created a custom version of the On logo to feature the Unisphere, a nod to my hometown of Queens and the US Open. The final touch is that each pair of Mid’s are signed by Roger, and each pair of Pro’s are signed by me .
Earlier this year I flew to Switzerland to meet with Roger and to create a video for this partnership. That video is finally live on @kith and this partnership is finally launching on Monday 8/29. This one is special. Working with my favorite tennis player ever to create a product that we’re both proud of, and becoming friends in the process.
Can’t wait to share this moment with you on Monday,” Ronnie Figg wrote on Instagram.
Federer’s commercial for the new shoe
Roger Federer drew his famous RF logo on clay by shooting tennis balls in a new commercial for On-Running.
Ronnie Fieg, the co-designer of the shoe he is promoting, is the one who throws the balls to Roger in the commercial. See the commercial here: Roger Federer draws RF logo by shooting balls on clay in new commercial