Detroit Pistons Invite Local Students to Sneaker Art Event

Detroit Pistons and Pensole Lewis College hosted the Martk'd "Art of Sneakers" Invitational.

A Detroit-area student holds his custom Reebok sneaker. / Detroit Pistons Photos

The Detroit Pistons and Pensole Lewis College, Detroit's only HBCU, recently hosted the Martk'd "Art on Sneaker" Invitational. The event is a sneaker design competition with Detroit-based students, who compete for a chance to have their design produced by Reebok and sold at a local sneaker boutique.

The competition began earlier this month, when 37 contestants came up with a shoe design to present to judges. From there, the competition was narrowed down to 12. The final 12 contestants took part in a virtual boot camp last weekend with instruction from Pensole Lewis College, the Pistons and Stackwell in preparation for creating and submitting their final design.

Each contestant was given a pair of blank Reebok shoes to work on for the week and will present their final design in person on Saturday. One winner will be selected at Saturday's finals and will have their shoe produced by Reebok to be sold at the local Detroit sneaker boutique, Two18, next year on March 13, 2025. A highlight video can be seen on the Pistons Instagram page.

Participants at the "Art of Sneakers" Invitational. /

"The MARTKD program at Pensole Lewis Detroit in partnership with the Detroit Pistons and Reebok is about much more than sneakers," Dion Walcott, Director of Partnerships PLC and Founder of MARTKD said. "The program provides students a pathway of understanding that there is more to the sneaker industry than being a consumer and provides students an outlet to express themselves, access to education and awareness of creative careers that revolve around the industry."

Carmen Hardaway, Director of Reebok Classic Fashion Footwear & Collaborations, said, "The event itself is a baby of Martk'd. The founder (Dion Walcott) is doing a lot of special things with the youth and we wanted to be a part of that, particularly around the areas of access and representation. Really just giving kids visibility to what it means to be in this industry. This is our second year, and we are happy to be doing it again this year."

Hardaway expressed joy when seeing so many different partners come together. "We are seeing more people want to get involved, like Microsoft, coming in and giving these kids tablets to further their work. There are so many tools that kids do not have access to. So, to see so many brands come together and work collectively to help and inspire these kids leaves me in awe when I leave these events."

Hardaway is not the only one in awe of this event. The Pistons, Pensole Lewis College, Martk'd, Stackwell, and Reebok make a dream team that other organizations should look to replicate. Stay locked into FanNation Kicks for all of your most important sneaker news.