In this new partnership, Designer Brands will invest in the first Black-owned footwear factory in the United States – JEMS by Pensole – to produce shoes designed by PLC graduate students, to be sold exclusively at DSW.
I wrote a post less than an hour ago discussing how Nike and adidas’ closing of wholesale accounts could come back to haunt them. The goal was to inspire dialogue and ask if an overinvestment in growth in China is a flawed strategy considering the recent nationalist movement there:
China’s Nationalism Could Make Brand Decisions to Abandon Mom and Pops in the U.S a Terrible Choice
In that article, I mentioned how retail in the U.S. is adjusting to a post-Nike wholesale world. I wanted to mention EbLens, who lost Nike last year, and how they have opened more stores. The addition of stores is completely unexpected. EbLens was supposed to go the way of Modell’s. EbLens has seemingly figured it out. DSW (Designer Brands) lost Nike as well. Instead of looking at losing Nike as a negative, the company began discussions with Pensole. Pensole is in the process of becoming a full-fledged educational instution as the design program has moved to Detroit and re-opened a closed HBCU.
All of these things don’t seem to have anything to do with Nike on the surface, but when you look closer there is a dynamic at work that lends itself to predictions. Foot Locker never really utilized Pensole. Foot Locker has been invested in Pensole since 2019. There haven’t been any real projects birthed. The investment was wasted. There could have been some real gamechanger projects taking place, but since that 2-million-dollar investment by FTL, nothing really transpired.
This investment by Designer Brands holds a variety of interesting and compelling opportunities. Consider these things:
- Pensole has moved to Detroit. One of the people who enabled the re-opening of an HBCU was Jennifer Gilbert. Her husband is Dan Gilbert. Dan Gilbert is the finance lead behind StockX. StockX is in Detroit.
- JEMS Factory will be providing opportunities for Blacks in the footwear industry. This means the technical aspect of shoe development and manufacturing has the bones of both design and industry with fully realized companies supporting this development.
- Designer Goods is undoubtedly going to have private label product created. While U.S. manufacturing can’t produce the number of sneakers to make a real dent, it’s not the shoes produced, but the tie-ins all around Detroit that will make the difference.
- Pensole being in Detroit and supported by Jennifer Gilbert means that a prediction I made about StockX could easily be implemented. I’ve always said StockX’s power isn’t in third party sneakers, it’s in the amazing growth of the site. StockX will in all likelihood be a delivery system for Pensole and possibly DSW. With the machine of StockX being so close in proximity, DSW’s private label will have an element of hype.
I can continue to connect the dots but take a moment and step back to think about how Nike’s holes in wholesale have inadvertently inspired the growth of new fibers in the sneaker industry. If DSW doesn’t lose Nike, does any of this happen? This is exciting information for those who understand how to track the firing of neurotransmitters across the synapses of the sneaker industry.
