The Jedi Returns...Wearing Kith!

Almost 40 years ago, in a galaxy not so far away, Return of the Jedi premiered as the final chapter of the original Star Wars trilogy. Mark Hamill, a.k.a. Luke Skywalker, took the stage at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. for the premier, and provided in-depth interviews and commentary from the cast as fans watched along from home, for free! 40 years later and Return of the Jedi is back in theaters, well a theater, the Village East by Angelika. Thanks to Ronnie Fieg, the amazing team at Kith, and a sweet collaboration with Lucasfilm, fans like myself had a unique opportunity on May 3rd to come together through our love for Star Wars and fashion, and see Return of the Jedi grace the big screen once again! This was a really cool experience and the first Kith event that I had been to personally, though it will most definitely not be my last.

Possibly my favorite thing about the event, one that I feel most companies or groups miss the mark on with these, is that you didn't need to spend a dollar to attend and enjoy. Tickets were distributed through the Kith app as a free to enter raffle, and if you were selected you even got a +1 so that you didn't have to go alone. Then, upon arrival, you were checked-in via the QR code on your app and were given a ticket for a free soda and bucket of popcorn. Now, popcorn and soda isn't going to break the bank for most people, but the fact that no one had to worry about it made it that much more impactful. On top of that, the popcorn and soda came in limited edition Kith x Star Wars branded buckets and cups, some of which are already on Ebay as I'm writing this...I will be drinking water out of mine for the foreseeable future!

Beyond the free stuff, another bonus to attending the event was a 24hr head-start on the Kith x Star Wars drop, hitting the Kith app at 11:00am EST today, May 4th.

With many anticipated Kith drops, certain items go very quickly and are often made in such a limited supply that many people never have chance to buy such pieces, myself included. This collection features a number graphic tees, jackets, sweatshirts, and even some home basics like cookie jars and paper weights, that have people staring at the clock in anticipation for 11:00am. As I've dove deeper into the fashion world I've learned a lot about drop mechanics and as this was the first time ending up on the winning end, I had to take advantage a little bit. I certainly did not break the bank but I did grab a t-shirt and the Yoda poster at the bottom of the picture to the left. And sure, a discount would have been a little sweeter, but myself and the others filling the seats of the Angelika were all just happy to be there.

Overall I would give the Kith x Star Wars event a 10 out of 10, and would aboslutely encourage anyone to attend a Kith event in the future. As this was my first, I am sure there are differences dependent upon the subject matter, but I can't see things changing so drastically that the experience would suffer much. As a fan of Star Wars himself, Ronnie Fieg and his team did an amazing job creating an environment that allowed for fans to come together and just be fans, without too many hurdles or hoops to jump through. I hope to attend another Kith event in the near future, but I am glad that if I went to one, it was this one!

May the 4th be with you!