How This Founder Is Kicking Up Innovation in the Sneaker Market

Entrepreneur spoke with PENSOLE Footwear Academy founder D’Wayne Edwards about the World Sneaker Championship.

By Conrad Martin Feb 27, 2017

Since the 1980s, sneaker culture has been on the rise. “Sneakerheads” have turned collecting from a spectator sport into a seriously booming billion-dollar industry. As an industry grows, customer needs evolve. Enter PENSOLE Footwear Academy, a design school with a curriculum solely (pun intended) dedicated to the art and business of footwear design.

Related: Nike’s Self-Lacing ‘Back to the Future’ Sneaker Is Here and Is Cooler Than You Think

Entrepreneur had the opportunity to speak with Pensole founder D’Wayne Edwards to discuss the 2017 PENSOLE World Sneaker Championship. The competition is open to designers from around the world and relies on crowdsourced voting to determine the winner.

Image credit: Pensole

Congratulations to this year’s winner, Maxwell Lund. Check out the Facebook Live interview above.

Since the 1980s, sneaker culture has been on the rise. “Sneakerheads” have turned collecting from a spectator sport into a seriously booming billion-dollar industry. As an industry grows, customer needs evolve. Enter PENSOLE Footwear Academy, a design school with a curriculum solely (pun intended) dedicated to the art and business of footwear design.

Related: Nike’s Self-Lacing ‘Back to the Future’ Sneaker Is Here and Is Cooler Than You Think

Entrepreneur had the opportunity to speak with Pensole founder D’Wayne Edwards to discuss the 2017 PENSOLE World Sneaker Championship. The competition is open to designers from around the world and relies on crowdsourced voting to determine the winner.

Image credit: Pensole

Congratulations to this year’s winner, Maxwell Lund. Check out the Facebook Live interview above.

The rest of this article is locked.

Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.

Subscribe Now

Already have an account? Sign In

Conrad Martin

Network Editor at Entrepreneur.com at Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur Staff
Conrad Martin is the Network Editor at Entrepreneur.com. His areas of focus include native and editorial video, live events, and content distribution.

Related Content