How This Founder Is Kicking Up Innovation in the Sneaker Market BIZ Experiences spoke with PENSOLE Footwear Academy founder D'Wayne Edwards about the World Sneaker Championship.

By Conrad Martin

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

BIZ Experiences 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.

Conrad Martin

BIZ Experiences Staff

Network Editor at BIZ Experiences.com

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

Want to be an BIZ Experiences Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

More from BIZ Experiences Exclusives

3 Simple Ways to Boost E-Commerce Sales

Why Your First 1,000 Customers Are Your Most Important

How to Grow Your Business By Finding New Customers

How to Beat The Working From Home Blues (60-Second Video)

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for BIZ Experiencess to pursue in 2025.

Making a Change

What It Takes to Go From Dead Broke to 6 Figures in 6 Months

Every change we need to make to prosper is within ourselves.

Science & Technology

OpenAI's Latest Move Is a Game Changer — Here's How Smart Solopreneurs Are Turning It Into Profit

OpenAI's latest AI tool acts like a full-time assistant, helping solopreneurs save time, find leads and grow their business without hiring.

Business Solutions

Boost Team Productivity and Security With Windows 11 Pro, Now $15 for Life

Ideal for BIZ Experiencess and small-business owners who are looking to streamline their PC setup.

Science & Technology

AI Isn't Plug-and-Play — You Need a Strategy. Here's Your Guide to Building One.

Don't just "add AI" — build a strategy. This guide helps founders avoid common pitfalls and create a step-by-step roadmap to harness real value from AI.

Starting a Business

I Built a $20 Million Company by Age 22 While Still in College. Here's How I Did It and What I Learned Along the Way.

Wealth-building in your early twenties isn't about playing it safe; it's about exploiting the one time in life when having nothing to lose gives you everything to gain.