I had a chance to e-mail Dr. Edwards questions about the most important moment in the sneaker industry in recent years. The ribbon cutting for the opening of the JEMS Manufacturing facility elevates Pensole to the upper echelon of any college in the country and places Pensole on par with schools like MIT where research and development are bolstered by production capabilities. I couldn’t get Dr. E on camera, but I have the next best thing so click play and enjoy.
On March 20th, 2023 Pensole Lewis College opened a manufacturing facility making it the only Black-Founded sneaker manufacturer in the U.S. Designer Brands Inc, the team behind DSW stores made a 2-million-dollar investment to make this happen. Reshoring is the process of returning jobs and manufacturing to the U.S. In the sneaker industry, almost every brand outsources their manufacturing. The process of importing footwear has contributed to environmental issues and continuous claims of abuse by sneaker brands in the treatment of workers in the array of manufacturing facilities around the world. Large brands from Nike to adidas and Under Armour have all explained that they would increase the number of sneakers manufactured in the U.S. New Balance is known for their Made in America line, but the amount of production in the U.S. has fallen considerably short. adidas’ Speedfactory, Nike’s Express Lane were once mentioned so often in quarterly reports it felt that a real change was on the horizon. Since 2017 very little has been stated about manufacturing in the U.S. There is a reason for this. Importing from China and Vietnam has conditioned the American consumer to prices on products way below what they would actually cost if they were made here in the States.
COMUNITYmade is a brand that has established itself as one of the leaders in the reshoring process. Jones & Vining is a company that can create lasts here in the States, but overall footwear manufacturing has become almost exclusively an imported consumer good. This has led to a reduction in skilled cobblers and erased an entire history of footwear production in the Northeast.
Designer Brands Inc. (NYSE: DBI), parent of shoe retailer DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse, announced an investment of $2 million into advancing action-oriented Diversity, Equity & Inclusion through a partnership with Pensole and legendary footwear designer Dr. D’Wayne Edwards, President of Pensole Lewis College of Business & Design (PLC). JEMS stands for “Jan Ernst Matzeliger Studio” – itself named in honor of the Black footwear pioneer who in 1883 received a patent that revolutionized footwear manufacturing, a process that inspired methods the industry still uses today.
Dr. D’Wayne Edwards, president of Pensole Lewis College of Business & Design and Bill Jordan, president of Designer Brands Inc (NYSE: DBI) officially open the new JEMS by PENSOLE shoe factory in Somersworth, New Hampshire. The diversity-focused initiative will help recruit and develop careers for underrepresented designers in the footwear industry.
Video Breakdown
0:23 Intro
2:49 Discussing Sneaker Manufacturing
6:53 DBI Invests in JEMS
7:45 1. How many shoes per month will the facility be able to produce?
8:20 2. Will JEMS focus more on quality vs quantity and if so how much will
the average sneaker from JEMS cost? (Considering companies like
COMUNITYmade are making footwear with KX Labs on the West Coast and
those shoes average a price around 200-300 dollars a pair, will JEMS
actually make sneakers that can be sold at a slightly better price?)
10:15 3. How soon will the facility be in operation?
10:23 4. Will the footwear be made with more sustainable materials?
11:37 5. Will JEMS be able to produce performance footwear?
12:13 6. Will there be an educational aspect focused on the method of make and
design process? I ask this question as PENSOLE has had ideas
appropriated by other companies like We Are Underdogs.
14:18 7. Will JEMS produce footwear only for Designer Brands
15:04 8. Will the end of life of all footwear created at JEMS be taken into
consideration?
16:31 1. What will be the first release from JEMS featured at DSW?
17:26 2. Will JEMS be incorporated into the educational aspect of PENSOLE?
18:43 3. How do you see JEMS shaping how the sneaker industry operates
currently?
19:49 1. adidas tried to bring manufacturing to the U.S. with Speedfactory and
closed the facility in two years. How will JEMS do what a billion-dollar
corporation failed at? DE:
21:35 2. Nike also attempted to do this but adapted Express Lane to simply
speed up the design process only with prototyping.
