Dr. D’Wayne Edwards Launches The Inaugural Shoe From The First Black-Owned Athletic Footwear Factory In The U.S.

Edwards is the founder of Pensole Lewis College of Business & Design, the country’s first Historically Black College and University (HBCU) to reopen. As AFROTECH previously mentioned, the school aims to empower Black creatives, business leaders, designers, and engineers.

To ensure creatives could be further supported, Edwards worked to transform and diversify the footwear industry by establishing JEMS by PENSOLE. Through a partnership with Designer Brands, he launched “the first Black-owned athletic footwear factory in the U.S.”