Get All Access for $5/mo

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

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.

Conrad Martin

Entrepreneur Staff

Network Editor at Entrepreneur.com

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

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

More from Entrepreneur 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

3 Stress-Busting Relaxation Exercises You Can Do Anywhere (60-Second Video)

Editor's Pick

Branding

ChatGPT is Becoming More Human-Like. Here's How The Tool is Getting Smarter at Replicating Your Voice, Brand and Personality.

AI can be instrumental in building your brand and boosting awareness, but the right approach is critical. A custom GPT delivers tailored collateral based on your ethos, personality and unique positioning factors.

Business News

Is the AI Industry Consolidating? Hugging Face CEO Says More AI Entrepreneurs Are Looking to Be Acquired

Clément Delangue, the CEO of Hugging Face, a $4.5 billion startup, says he gets at least 10 acquisition requests a week and it's "increased quite a lot."

Growing a Business

He Immigrated to the U.S. and Got a Job at McDonald's — Then His Aversion to Being 'Too Comfortable' Led to a Fast-Growing Company That's Hard to Miss

Voyo Popovic launched his moving and storage company in 2018 — and he's been innovating in the industry ever since.

Business News

You Can Now Apply to Renew Your U.S. Passport Online — But There's a Catch

The U.S. State Department officially launched the beta program this week.

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

Business News

Apple Reportedly Isn't Paying OpenAI to Use ChatGPT in iPhones

The next big iPhone update brings ChatGPT directly to Apple devices.