[1] Founded in 2010 by D’Wayne Edwards, the school has partnerships with institutions such as Parsons The New School for Design, Art Center College of Design, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as brands such as Foot Locker, Asics, and Adidas.

[2][3][4] Founder Edwards is a former design director of Brand Jordan, a subsidiary of Oregon based Nike.

[5] The school has also worked with Adidas, whose North American headquarters are in Portland,[6] and also hold a design competition called the Future of Footwear.

[7] Pensole was founded in 2010 and started by holding classes at a variety of venues, including the University of Oregon's Portland Center.

[9] The founder of the academy, D’Wayne Edwards, started in the industry without any formal training and worked for LA Gear, Skechers, and Sity before spending ten years at Nike with the Jordan Brand.