{"id":1984267,"date":"2026-06-11T09:00:41","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T06:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1984267"},"modified":"2026-06-11T09:00:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T06:00:41","slug":"he-designed-sneakers-for-jordan-melo-now-hes-revived-an-hbcu-to-teach-the-next-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1984267","title":{"rendered":"He designed sneakers for Jordan, Melo. Now he\u2019s revived an HBCU to teach the next generation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Staring down the company suggestion box at LA Gear, 19-year-old D\u2019Wayne Edwards sketched a sneaker on a 3-by-5 notecard, signed his name and dropped it in the box. The next day, a different idea, and a different illustration, went in.<\/p>\n

Never mind that the Inglewood, Calif., native had no formal design education or training, or that his high school guidance counselor had dismissed his design dreams, telling him he\u2019d be better off focusing on the military. Who cared that his job, as a file clerk in the accounting department of the trendy lifestyle brand, had nothing to do with design? Edwards, who had been sketching sneakers since he was 12, had ideas \u2014 lots of them.<\/p>\n

So for six months, he dropped a different design in the suggestion box, waiting to be noticed.<\/p>\n

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Nearly 40 years later, Edwards\u2019 fingerprints are all over the sneaker industry and, correspondingly, the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

Widely considered the most influential Black designer in the history of footwear<\/a>, the former Jordan Brand executive who didn\u2019t go to college has dedicated the second half of his career to creating a path for aspiring Black designers that didn\u2019t exist for him. Edwards never set out to work in education, but a young future hoops Hall of Famer sparked his idea to teach, and Edwards first launched Pensole design academy in 2010 in Portland, Ore. Now 56, Edwards is president of Pensole Lewis College in Detroit<\/a>, where he took over a formerly shuttered historically Black college and built a pipeline to footwear companies across the world.<\/p>\n

Consider the work from Edwards\u2019 mentees and former students on display. While trying to lead the New York Knicks to their first title since 1973, Jalen Brunson is wearing Nike Kobe Bryant sneakers; Erin Reyes and Jaime Rojas, two Pensole graduates who studied under Edwards, are among the lead designers of the Kobe division.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople talk about Bill Parcells\u2019 coaching tree or Gregg Popovich\u2019s coaching tree,\u201d Allen Largin, one of Edwards\u2019 first students, said, \u201cbut D\u2019Wayne\u2019s ripple effect is second to none. His impact dwarfs everyone else\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a market valued at more than $90 billion annually, the sneaker industry has long moved beyond gear worn only by athletes on the court to everyday streetwear that can make \u2014 or break \u2014 your outfit. NBA games double as a footwear fashion shows. Who is wearing what becomes one of the biggest talking points each night for sneakerheads worldwide.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all part of the reason Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert\u2019s foundation chipped in $10 million to help Edwards launch his vision of teaching sneaker design at an HBCU.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe culture around sneakers represents creativity, storytelling and self-expression,\u201d Gilbert, who lives in Detroit, wrote in an email to The Athletic.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cAs an NBA owner, I see how sneakers are not just apparel. They are an extension of the game and of identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards has lived a screenplay-worthy life since he turned the LA Gear suggestion box into his launching pad, even as he\u2019s remained behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t dream small,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd when you dream big, you get kind of addicted to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Edwards worked his way up from LA Gear, where the CEO rewarded his ambition with an entry-level gig as an assistant footwear designer in 1989. He worked at Sketchers, MVP Footwear and eventually Nike, moving in 2001 to Jordan Brand, where he created products related to one of the most iconic logos and athletes in sports. He worked on signature products with celebrities including Jordan, Derek Jeter, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg.<\/p>\n

Many view design as subjective, but Edwards became known in the industry for rooting his work in facts. He was a storyteller above all else, using tidbits from athletes\u2019 lives and backgrounds to create products layered with unique details.<\/p>\n

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Michael Jordan, for example, was one of the first Americans to own the Bentley Continental GT Coupe, which Edwards used as inspiration when designing the Air Jordan 21 in 2005.<\/a> That sneaker was meant to showcase Jordan\u2019s hobbies \u2014 which is why it featured premium leather and high-quality suede, just like his luxury car.<\/p>\n

Though they share a campus, Nike and Jordan are different, a distinction that mattered deeply to the notoriously competitive namesake. Nike has its Swoosh and Jordan Brand its Jumpman logo. Jordan Brand also signs its own athletes to endorsement deals. Edwards joked that because Nike was Jordan Brand\u2019s biggest competitor, the namesake \u201cdid not like Nike, so we didn\u2019t, either.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first basketball athlete to sign with Jordan Brand was future Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony. A 19-year-old superstar drafted No. 3 by the Denver Nuggets in 2003, Anthony signed with Jordan as a rookie. When Edwards, then Jordan\u2019s design director, flew to Denver to meet with Anthony, the player peppered Edwards with questions, insisting that he understand every granular detail. Edwards considers his work with Anthony \u201cthe birth of my teaching career.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n D\u2019Wayne Edwards and Carmelo Anthony started working together at the start of Anthony\u2019s Hall of Fame career. (Courtesy of Nick DePaula \/ Sole Collector)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cMelo was engaged from Day One, he was a student of the process, a student of creativity, of business,\u201d Edwards said, adding that in his previous experience, it was unusual for an athlete to be interested to that level. \u201cHe didn\u2019t just want me to say, \u2018Here\u2019s a shoe, go wear it.\u2019 He wanted to know the why.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anthony\u2019s participation got Edwards thinking about the future.<\/p>\n

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An uneasy truth had always nagged at Edwards: Brands make products representing Black athletes and market them to young Black customers, he said, typically without empowering or educating aspiring Black designers.<\/p>\n

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When it became clear to Edwards no one had a plan to increase industry diversity, he decided he needed to do it himself.<\/p>\n

Edwards had been tinkering with ideas for how to get kids, specifically teenagers who posted on sneaker forums, more engaged and educated about the design process. He wanted kids like him, who didn\u2019t have financial resources to go to college, to know a pathway existed for them, too. In 2008, with Nike\u2019s blessing and financial backing, Edwards created Future Sole, a competition where young creatives submitted their best sneaker sketch with the possibility it would get made, and maybe even worn by an NBA player.<\/p>\n

To get the event rolling, Edwards got Anthony involved as a familiar face to put on the Future Sole advertisement, \u201ca carrot to click on the link,\u201d Edwards said.<\/p>\n

Edwards and Nike received 800 submissions. In the second year, they got around 10,000. By the fourth year, more than 800,000 kids were submitting sketches. It reinforced to Edwards there was a market for sneaker design-based mentorship and education.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was really the start of me thinking, \u2018Hmm, this could be cool to do full time,’\u201d Edwards said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just now reaping the benefits of the work D\u2019Wayne started putting in 20-something years ago,\u201d Anthony said. \u201cThe independent sneaker industry, where it\u2019s going and the impact of it \u2014 he was at the forefront of that. When it comes to bringing designers and young Black talent together, we hadn\u2019t seen that before. He created that lane and kicked down that door.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n The Future Sole competition confirmed D\u2019Wayne Edwards\u2019 interest in creating more ways to teach design. (Courtesy of Nike)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The winner of the third Future Sole competition was Largin, then a 15-year-old sneakerhead from the Detroit suburbs. He traveled in November 2010 to Denver to pitch Anthony directly on his design. In the players-only tunnel after a Nuggets game, Edwards casually introduced Largin to Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get access to this type of stuff?\u201d Largin asked in disbelief. \u201cFor designing sneakers?\u201d<\/p>\n

Four months later, Anthony debuted Largin\u2019s design, the MELO M7.<\/p>\n

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Largin, now 31, considered Future Sole \u201cmy Willy Wonka golden ticket\u201d into the design world. He is the partner and co-founder of Supper, a Detroit-based creative agency, and sits on PLC\u2019s board. He has his dream job, a career he directly credits to Edwards\u2019 influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people view creativity as a hobby or a side hustle,\u201d Largin said. \u201cHe\u2019s shown so many people you can have a career, make a salary, have benefits. You can really surprise and delight people, take them on a journey through your designs. And it goes beyond sneakers, beyond sport. It\u2019s footwear design, but it\u2019s also car design and graphic design.\u201d<\/p>\n

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At arguably the height of his career, Edwards took a sabbatical from Nike in 2010 to open Pensole, North America\u2019s only footwear-specific design academy. (The name is a double entendre; a pencil is a designer\u2019s most important tool to sketch sneakers, which have a sole.) He set up shop in Portland, which has in its orbit Nike world headquarters, Adidas North America headquarters and design houses from Hoka, Under Armour and Lululemon, among other major brands. A year later, he retired from Nike to focus on Pensole full time.<\/p>\n

The school was an instant hit, helping students earn internships and first jobs. In 2014, Edwards hosted the first World Sneaker Championships, inviting aspiring designers from all over the globe. His teaching ethos is simple: He wants students to know that everything they\u2019re interested in is a job. You like \u2014 or hate \u2014 how sneakers are displayed in a store? That\u2019s merchandising. You drool over smooth suede on your favorite pair of kicks? That\u2019s color, art and materials.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people would have stopped at the Jordan design director job,\u201d Nick DePaula, a sneaker industry insider, said. \u201cBut for 15 years, the guiding piece in everything he\u2019s done has been, \u2018How can my next step help even more people?’\u201d<\/p>\n

For years, Largin had been trying to talk Edwards into moving to Detroit. Then, in the summer of 2020, the murder of George Floyd sparked discussions about systemic anti-Black racism and topics such as access to higher education. Largin and Edwards were catching up on the phone when Edwards mentioned he wanted to work with HBCUs to develop a pipeline of designers.<\/p>\n

\u201cMan, I wish Detroit still had its HBCU,\u201d Largin said offhand. Edwards asked what he was talking about. Largin sent him the Wikipedia page.<\/p>\n

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Originally known as the Lewis College of Business, PLC was founded in Indianapolis in 1928 to help Black women learn secretarial skills. A Detroit branch opened 10 years later and quickly grew bigger than the original Indianapolis campus. It became an HBCU in 1987 but lost its accreditation 20 years later amid a dramatic decline in enrollment. It closed in 2015 and sat unoccupied for years.<\/p>\n

Twenty-four hours after telling Edwards about Lewis College, Largin stood in a parking lot waiting to get a copy of NBA2K and heard his phone ping.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019m gonna buy that college,\u201d Edwards texted him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like, dude, what?\u201d Largin recalled. \u201cHe didn\u2019t even go to college! And now he\u2019s gonna buy an academy?\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards was able to reopen the school in part because of the $10 million investment from the Gilbert Family Foundation via Cavaliers owner Gilbert. (Largin works closely with the Gilbert family on creative endeavors and introduced Gilbert and Edwards years ago.)<\/p>\n

Gilbert, who likes to refer to himself as \u201cthe original sneakerhead,\u201d called partnering with Edwards \u201can easy decision\u201d and \u201cmajor win for our city.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cD\u2019Wayne\u2019s impact on basketball is felt in every corner of the game,\u201d said Gilbert, who co-founded StockX, an online sneaker resale site where customers can track down some of the most in-demand kicks. \u201cHe has created opportunity for aspiring designers and young people who may never have seen a path into the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

PLC by its own admission is \u201cnot a traditional education institution.\u201d Many students take four-week master classes, which are industry certified, but in August 2025, the school launched its first degree program with 13 students.<\/p>\n

One of those students is Justin Woods, a Detroit native who grew up \u201cbuying, selling and trading sneakers \u2014 I was the kid going to conventions, with piles of shoes in my closet.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Woods, 28, attended Michigan State after high school and earned his bachelor\u2019s degree in media and information. But when he learned about PLC, he couldn\u2019t wait to sign up. Recently, he also started a job at PLC, helping design curriculum for first-year students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always had a passion for sneakers,\u201d Woods said, \u201cbut I had no idea you could actually make sneakers. Like, that\u2019s a job? That\u2019s insane! I tell my cohort all the time, we\u2019re part of history. But more people need to know about us \u2014 what the University of Michigan is to Ann Arbor, I want PLC to be that to Detroit.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n PLC\u2019s Justin Woods conceptualized a signature sneaker for Detroit Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham. (Courtesy of Justin Woods)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Brands partner directly with the school on projects, and PLC students have done work for Nike, MillerKnoll, Logitech, PepsiCo and Target, among others. The past four years, they\u2019ve also worked with the NBA to design a portion of the HBCU Classic basketball court during NBA All-Star Weekend. Recently, PLC hosted the Pistons and their G League team, the Motor City Cruise, for a two-hour \u201cbusiness of basketball\u201d session in which students took players through elements of the design process.<\/p>\n

Tuition and housing are covered by PLC\u2019s brand partners. Online classes are available, too. In 2025, PLC had 200 students. Edwards\u2019 hope is that they can max out at 500 to 550 in-person students, with as many as five times that enrolled online. (They\u2019ve recently launched a partnership with three other HBCUs to give students on those campuses access to design classes.) There are 11 faculty members, a mix of full time and adjunct, and in-person students convene in one large building, divided into three sections, that spans more than 400,000 square feet.<\/p>\n

PLC Detroit has also become the host of the Black Footwear Forum, an annual event created by Edwards and Matt Priest, the president and CEO of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America. The forum brings together the best minds in the industry with hopes to increase opportunities for Black professionals to \u201cinfluence, lead and impact the global footwear industry and consumer culture.\u201d The organization hosts its annual \u201chomecoming\u201d event each fall at PLC.<\/p>\n

Edwards said sneakers will always be at the heart of PLC. But as usual, he\u2019s thinking bigger. He imagines that someday, PLC will walk the runways at the world\u2019s biggest fashion weeks. In a full-circle moment, Edwards relaunched the Future Sole competition in 2024 at PLC, opening it to HBCU students who don\u2019t have access to a design program.<\/p>\n

Dating to 2011, Pensole has placed more than 800 graduates in the professional footwear industry, from Nike to Prada to Timberland and everywhere in between.<\/p>\n

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Edwards is eyeing retirement but still has a robust to-do list, including seeing PLC through the accreditation process, which should be completed around 2030. It would, he said, be his proudest accomplishment.<\/p>\n

And although Edwards\u2019 influence throughout the basketball community and sneaker culture is clear, Largin said what Edwards has done is only skimming the surface, and that his work remains crucial to the next generations of designers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t feel like we can afford for him to retire \u2014 like ever,\u201d Largin said. \u201cI mean, when is this guy\u2019s life gonna be made into a movie?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Staring down the company suggestion box at LA Gear, 19-year-old D\u2019Wayne Edwards sketched a sneaker on a 3-by-5 notecard, signed his name and dropped it in the box. The next day, a different idea, and a different illustration, went in. Never mind that the Inglewood, Calif., native had no formal design education or training, or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1984267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1984267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1984267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1984267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1984267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}