Foot Locker, New Balance, Pensole announce master class

16 Nov '19

3 min read

Pic: Shutterstock

Foot Locker, New Balance and Pensole Footwear Design Academy have opened registration for January 2020 "Fueling the Future of Footwear" master class and design competition. The master class is a hands-on, intensive design competition to identify and nurture design talent for the footwear industry. This will be Foot Locker's seventh master class with Pensole.

For its January 2020 master class, Pensole has partnered with both Foot Locker and New Balance to provide unique opportunities for aspiring footwear and apparel designers. The class will challenge the selected students to design footwear and apparel silhouettes for New Balance across both lifestyle and performance categories.

As Pensole's only off-campus course, the programme will be held at the New Balance Research & Development Centre in Lawrence, Mass from January 27 to February 14, 2020. A total of 30 students will be selected to attend a three-week "learn by doing" footwear design programme, where they will be split into five teams of six.

Prospective students can register in four different categories: footwear, colour/material, apparel and marketing. Registration is open to US-based students only, and the deadline to submit is December 3, 2019. The 30 students chosen for "Fueling the Future of Footwear" will be announced in early January 2020 and will receive free tuition and housing – approximately $5,000 per student – for the class.

"Partnering with Pensole has been a powerful initiative at Foot Locker as we are always looking for innovative ways to connect with our consumers. There is no better way to do so than to make them part of our product-creation process," says Patrick Walsh, vice president of Marketing for Foot Locker North America. "We are excited to continue building upon our mission of empowering youth and sneaker culture through 'Fueling the Future of Footwear,' alongside two great partners — New Balance and Pensole."

The curriculum will cover the product creation process across footwear and apparel design, materials and marketing. One or more individual from each discipline – footwear design (2), colours/materials (1), apparel (1) and marketing (1) – will be selected by a panel of judges including industry experts and leadership from Foot Locker and New Balance. For the first time ever, participants will have the opportunity to receive paid internships with Foot Locker and New Balance, working directly with the brands in each of their disciplines. Winners will also receive up to $500 in merchandise from New Balance.

"This is the only class that we teach outside of Pensole's campus in Portland," says Pensole founder, D'Wayne Edwards. "We are excited to teach our fourth class at the New Balance Research and Development Centre, to continue our mission of identifying and elevating emerging design talent."

Prospective students can register in four different categories: footwear, colour/material, apparel and marketing. Registration is open to US-based students only, and the deadline to submit is December 3, 2019. The 30 students chosen for "Fueling the Future of Footwear" will be announced in early January 2020 and will receive free tuition and housing – approximately $5,000 per student – for the class.

"We have worked with Pensole for the last three years and are excited to add Foot Locker to the programme," says Jared Goldman, senior director of Design at New Balance. "Our relationship with Pensole has opened New Balance up to a diverse group of talented designers that we would never have met prior to our first class. This is an amazing opportunity for designers that want a career in the footwear industry to get a start."

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