Arts
D'Wayne Edwards is the founder of Pensole Footwear Design Academy, located in Portland, OR. He's spent over 30 years in the industry, from working with Tupac and Biggie at Karl Kani to working with the GOAT, Michael Jordan. After spending 10 years working at Jordan, D'Wayne decided to start a school for footwear designers to help the next generation and has established one of the top schools in the world for Footwear Design. Donte' not only got to learn under him but interview him for the podcast. Listen as Donte' and D'Wayne talk about the journey that led D'Wayne to Portland. Highlights: 0:30: The Beginnings 3:58: Baseball Cards to Sneakers 5:10: the Reebok Design Competition 7:30: Fast food to Footwear 12:05: Footwear meets Hip-Hop 15:33: The Advent of Sity and Skechers 16:58: The Transition to Nike/Jordan 20:41: Meeting Jordan 23:33: The Nu Retro II 24:21: Melo and the .5 Series 29:33: Designing Signature Jordans 31:29: Innovation and “The Experience” 37:11: Founding Pensole 45:28: How to Attend Pensole 47:30: The Future of Pensole 51:53: Bringing Industry Technology to Pensole 54:07: The Favorites Pensole's Website: http://www.pensole.com/ Instagram: pensole_academy Twitter: @pensole_academy Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pensole.footwear.design.academy/ BRNDD Podcast: Website: debonairmaterial.com E-Mail: brndd@debonairmaterial.com Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/brnddpodcast Twitter: @BRNDDPodcast Instagram: @brnddpodcast facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brnddpodcast/ Ronald James' Twitter and Instagram: @whoisronjames