PORTLAND, Ore — Portland’s own Pensole has partnered with Adidas and The Iovine and Young Academy, founded by Jimmy Iovine and Andre “Dr. Dre” Young, to bring footwear and apparel design classes to high school students in Inglewood, California.
The classes, called Wood U, stand out to Pensole’s founder D’Wayne Edwards among the other partnerships he’s done with the German brand. Bringing footwear design classes to students who otherwise wouldn’t have them is the entire mantra of Pensole, but it's special this time, Edwards said, because he is from Inglewood.
“This was honestly a dream come true because I had this concept of Wood U about 20 years ago, and it was just something that was sitting on a Word document on my computer. So when Adidas approached me about this opportunity, I was extremely humbled by it — emotional, honestly. Even during the program it was emotional for me too just because those kids need that. They need hope the same that I needed it 30-some years ago,” Edwards said
Wood U's first installation involved 15 students from two high schools in the Inglewood area: Inglewood High School and Morningside High School, which scared Edwards initially because the two high schools are bitter rivals. Students from either high school have an unspoken rule, he said: you don’t talk to kids from the other school.
Read the full story at the Portland Business Journal.
