Students created outerwear for a customer with hemiplegia, a condition that can cause significant muscle weakness. After students presented the work to some Nike execs, the company decided to fly the class to September’s New York Fashion Week.

Pensole Alumni, Brady Corum, an American footwear designer, and Vince Lebon, an Australian color and materials designer, created the Pensole x Asics Gel 180. The shoe is inspired by hip-hop culture’s inherent nature of creativity and innovation.  

Bao Qian-cheng, a Product Design student at PolyU Hong Kong won the PENSOLE World Sneaker Championship 2018. His impressive design is inspired by the perspective lines of the crowded skyscrapers and neon signs in the metropolis Hong Kong.

North Carolina native, Chris Dixon wins WSC 2017 and launches CD Brand—or, as Dixon calls it, “Constant Development.”

New Balance chose several apprentices from the 2018 master class with Pensole. Dara Dillabaugh, an apprentice at New Balance’s Design Foundry, cooked up the PRJ 2.0 as part of a challenge to create a shoe each designer would actually want to wear.

D’wayne Edwards partners with Nike to create a diversity master class that will help designers of color get their foot in the product creation industry.

Designers Razma Hassani , Matt Franklin,  and Blake Scordino won $12,000 and their Gel-Diablo was sold at select Foot Locker stores globally and online. Deemed the “Once Upon A Time In Kobe” their design was inspired by Japanese heritage:  the Koi fish …

Talented designers  were challenged in our 12-week design intensive to create for brands including: New balance, Dreamville, Xenith, Dovetail, Showerspass, American Express, Fior, Homeward, and Runway of Dreams.

FAAS founder and director, Angela Medlin, brings a special industry icon, TJ Walker, founder and creator of Cross Colours, to talk about the resurgence of the brand and the importance of brand identity.