Call it Fight Club for kicks. DSC sponsored the first-ever sneaker-focused Sketchbattle design competition on Sept. 19th at Detroit’s Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design to discover and showcase new talent. The high-energy event with live DJs invites students and professional designers to face off in friendly, timed live footwear sketching rounds in front of a crowd of 600-plus fellow designers, creatives, and title sponsors.
The overall winner was Najar Vela, while Sophia Jensen took the Darby Jean Award (created to spotlight women designers and named for Sketchbattle’s first-ever female champ). Jace Danielewicz won the People’s Choice award.
Founded in Detroit in 2012 by designer Brook Banham, Sketchbattle serves as a platform to celebrate the Motor City’s auto-making history and an innovative, real-time hiring engine where new talent is discovered, celebrated, and recruited. Over the years, young creatives from the competition have gone on to work for some of the biggest brands in the business.
Now, with sneakers entering the fray, Sketchbattle offers the same exciting opportunity for the footwear industry to make connections, push creative limits, and discover the next generation of design innovators. In addition to DSC, title sponsors included Nike, Jordan, and Converse, among others.
For DSC, a global leader in high-performance foam innovation and designer of Dreamcell and Durapontex insoles, sponsoring Sketchbattle SNKR 1st Edition felt like the perfect fit, according to COO Mei-Fen Wei. “DSC has an ongoing commitment to supporting the next generation in developing design, talent, and education,” he says, adding that for several years, DSC and the College for Creative Studies (CCS) have collaborated to support the college’s program for young designers.
“Brook Banham is also an adjunct professor at CCS, and when DSC learned that the first-ever Sketchbattle SNKR event was set to happen, we knew that we wanted to be at the forefront to support the intersection of creative design and cultural and industry connections across the footwear community,” says Wei. “DSC’s world is about footwear innovation, design, and manufacturing, so it’s greatly important that we as a company, can support the next generation in access to design.”
Plans call for expanding Sketchbattle SNKR to more U.S. cities with a vibrant sneaker culture, and DSC plans to be on board. “We had a blast being part of Sketchbattle SNKR, and we appreciate the opportunity to connect with such incredible design talent,” says Wei. “It’s exciting to see the event spotlight rising stars in the industry. We’re looking forward to seeing how it grows, especially as it looks to expand to key sneaker cities like Portland, Boston, and Los Angeles. The future of design is looking bright!”
The post DSC Hosts First-Ever Sneaker-Focused Sketchbattle appeared first on Footwear Plus Magazine.