Who Are We

Mission

Our mission is to provide fans worldwide with a comfortable and casual shoe featuring licensed sport/university logos. Whether you are at a game cheering on your favorite team, lounging around the dorm, or out on the street, these shoes are a comfortable way to show your support for the teams you love.

Vision

Our vision is to become the leading provider of low-cost, licensed shoes to fans around the world. We aim to provide a shoe you can feel comfortable wearing throughout the day and night , while showing your support for your favorite school/team. In the near future, we want to provide every college and university, NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and FIFA FANSHOES!

Our Story

November 2008, Rochester, NY. On a cold Rochester night, Gabriel (G) walked into his apartment with one thing on his mind, how and what venture will he start with Nick Rovisa, a person he met a few hours earlier at an entrepreneur’s project organized by Monroe County. Nick approached G because he looked the youngest out of the entrepreneurs’ at the event, Nick talked extensively about the start-up company he is working with and his dream to be part of a young company.

After the first few days of participating in the entrepreneur’s project, G believed he had found in Nick a person with business passion. However, G was working on another project that was in R&D phase. A couple of weeks later G gave Nick a call to talk over coffee in hope of discussing a new venture… G came in hand with a homemade version of a collegiate logo’d FANSHOE. He handed it to Nick and immediately he saw the potential. The meeting ended with a handshake and FANSHOES journey had begun.

The next couple of months were tedious; full of learning curves, what it takes to start a business on the right note, learning how to make that company flourish, learning about manufacturing, about competitors, about sports and collegiate licensing and others. However, most important of all, learning about each other, we had met one day and started a company the next!

One of the most important things to do in the beginning was coming up with the shoe designs that would resonate with people. Neither G nor Nick had any expertise in graphic design so Nick approached his cousin Brian and asked him if he would help. Brian graciously accepted the offer and became the first FANSHOES intern!

Workdays consisted of sharing our time at the “office,” Boulder Coffee shop, and other café’s in downtown Rochester. Time was also spent at Nick parents’ home in Greece, NY, where we were always welcomed with homemade food while our heads buried in the business unknowns. Day in and day out, we forged ahead, we worked out of these places, and be it through snowstorms, parking ticket issues, or getting your car stolen, all was in hopes of making FANSHOES a reality.

Then, G brought in Britton (Britt) for a meeting one day to discuss the building of our website. Britt was a recent graduate of RIT, interning at the Red Cross when G met him at a social event in the fall of 09. G hired Britt as a freelance website developer to construct FANSHOES’ first ever website. G would tell Nick, Britt will join them in the venture every time they met with him, but Nick was skeptical because he did not think Britt had any interest in FANSHOES. He was wrong; Britt’s internship ended and he became FANSHOES’ first Webmaster and Head Designer. Later he would become a partner in FANSHOES.

Fast forward to today; FANSHOES has an office in the historic Cascade Building in downtown Rochester. The company’s website has undergone a serious facelift; it has over 14 newly designed shoes for casual college fans. It has been a tough road, but one we have not had to travel alone; each of us had a ton of support from family, friends, and fans. With help from RDA Containers and Printing Plus (our packaging suppliers), both of Rochester, NY, we have developed a cool and unique package to match our comfortable, one-of-a-kind shoes. We wrote this story to let people know we are not just a normal company; we want every one of our friends and customers to know where we came from, where we are going and where we are heading. All our friends and family are invited to come along.