D’Wayne Edwards: The Man Who Never Went to College but Built America’s First Design HBCU

Let me tell you about Dr. D’Wayne Edwards.

There’s a man in Detroit who never went to college, and he ended up becoming one of the most influential footwear designers in the history of the sport — and then he founded the first design-focused HBCU in America. Some people would tell you that’s impossible. D’Wayne Edwards just did the work.

The Work

D’Wayne is the President of Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design in Detroit — PLC Detroit. It’s the first reinstated HBCU in American history and the first design-focused HBCU. It gave 518 students a home and is training a whole pipeline of Black designers that the sneaker industry never made room for.

Before the college, D’Wayne founded PENSOLE in 2010, the first footwear-design academy in North America. More than 800 of its alumni have gone on to design at Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Puma, Timberland, The North Face, and more — including names now shaping the sneaker culture you wear every day.

And before all of that, he was the man behind the sneakers. He designed for Michael Jordan’s Jordan Brand and Carmelo Anthony. He has more than 50 patents and a portfolio of 500+ designs worn across the NFL, NBA, MLB, and six Olympics. Let that land: six Olympics. He started at age 19 as a file clerk in the accounting department at LA Gear, sketching sneakers on the side, until a Reebok design competition he won at 17 proved he was meant for the drawing board, not the filing cabinet.

The Roots

Born in Inglewood, California. Never went to college. Learned the craft by doing it, obsessively, from the age of 12. He earned the “Dr.” through honor and a lifetime of work — and connections to ArtCenter College of Design.

He’s also the co-founder of Supper, a Detroit creative agency, and he created the Black Footwear Forum. He’s taught at ArtCenter, Parsons, MIT, Harvard. Fast Company named him one of the most creative people in business, and President Obama gave him the Volunteer Service Award.

Why It Matters

Here’s the part that gets me: the sneakers we all wear, the culture we all love — a Black man from Inglewood with no degree built the school that’s now training the people who’ll design the future of it. He didn’t wait for the industry to open a door. He built the door, then he built an entire building around it.

PLC Detroit isn’t just a school. It’s a statement: we’re not waiting to be included in the design world. We’re designing it ourselves.

Quick facts:

• President, Pensole Lewis College (PLC Detroit) — first design-focused HBCU
• 500+ sneaker designs · 50+ patents · worn across 6 Olympics
• Designed for Jordan Brand & Carmelo Anthony
• Founded PENSOLE (2010) — North America’s first footwear-design academy; 800+ alumni
• Co-founder, Supper creative agency · never attended college