New York has always had a thing for importing the next big sport. Remember when boutique spinning studios felt like underground clubs? Or when pickleball suddenly appeared in every park? Now it is padel’s turn, arriving with style and right on a rooftop in the West Village.
Kith, the label that turned sneakers into status symbols, has launched Kith Ivy, a new hospitality venture that is a wellness club, lifestyle brand, and padel hotspot. Ronnie Fieg, Kith’s founder and creative director, was not interested in adding just another gym to Manhattan’s crowded scene. Instead, he designed a members’ club that feels more like a private townhouse, where you can slip from a Moroccan-inspired dinner at Café Mogador into an Erewhon smoothie, then up to the roof to smash volleys against the city skyline.
Three fully enclosed rooftop padel courts rise above Leroy Street, 35 feet high, built from custom steel and canvas with Kith Ivy x Wilson branding across the courts. This is not your local gym but a new trendy sport dressed in Kith’s aesthetic, engineered for year-round play, with outdoor dining circling the courts so friends can watch you battle it out over mezze and matcha.
The club also leans heavily into lifestyle. Vintage Persian rugs, rosewood details, and a central fireplace set the tone in the lounge. At the same time, a Giorgio Armani spa takes care of post-game recovery with hammam, sauna, and cold plunges. The fitness center, wellness programs, and Erewhon’s first New York tonic bar round out the picture. It is a mix of old-world members’ club coziness with new-world brand collaborations, and the effect is very New York: a little nostalgic, a lot aspirational.
And because Kith never builds a space, there is also the Kith Ivy apparel and padel collection. Co-created with Wilson, it covers everything from performance rackets to lifestyle-ready sportswear, carrying padel off the court and onto the street. The drop lands exclusively on Kith.com and the Kith App, making sure the Ivy aesthetic travels far beyond Leroy Street.
So yes, padel has landed in Manhattan. Annual memberships are limited, but even if you never swing a racket, the ripple effect is already in motion. New York now has padel, and it has it the Kith way, curated, elevated, and impossible to ignore.
PHOTO CREDIT: Kith
