Foot Locker is the largest sneaker retailer in the world with stores all around the world. They carry the biggest athletic footwear brands in the world and according to Nice Kicks, the company just invested $2 million in Pensole, a sneaker design academy based out of the United States.
Pensole was founded back in 2010 by D'Wayne Edwards, who used to be a designer for Jordan Brand. He created the school to give opportunities to designers who wanted a better idea of how to get their foot in the door. Numerous students are now working for major brands like Nike and Adidas.
Edwards commented on the investment and his past relationship with Foot Locker.
“My relationship with Foot Locker goes back over 30 years. I used to go a Foot Locker store at the mall every weekend when I lived in Inglewood,” said Edwards. “For the past 29 years, Foot Locker has sold a shoe that I designed and Foot Locker has been a fantastic partner sponsoring a number of our classes.”
Foot Locker is also excited about the partnership with Richard Johnson, Foot Locker’s Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, saying this, per Nice Kicks:
“Through this investment, we are excited to extend our partnership with PENSOLE, an organization that shares our deep commitment to fostering education and driving design innovation and excellence in the industry. PENSOLE’s position as a leading footwear design academy will enable Foot Locker, Inc. to deepen our relationships with our vendor partners and leverage the next generation of talent across our brand partners for exclusive consumer-facing concepts. We look forward to working closely with D’Wayne and PENSOLE’s talented students and world-class faculty, as together we design and produce the footwear of tomorrow.”
This investment will allow Pensole to expand their school and take on more students, ultimately giving people more opportunities.