Did anyone get to check out the new uniforms the Terps were rockin’ last night? If not, check them out!

The Terps are not the only ones going with a new look, FANSHOES recently introduced a completely new look to the website. The new design is much cleaner and makes the site much easier for you, the fans, to use! Like a team getting ready for a new season, the FANSHOES team put in a lot of hours the past few months to prepare for our new website and we hope you really enjoy the new experience this site offers. Please stop by myfanshoes.com to check out what all of our hard work has resulted in. As always, let us know what you think of the new site via twitter or facebook or even email our CTO, Marcus, at marcus@myfanshoes.com. 

Let’s hope for another great weekend of football!

Thanks,

The FANSHOES Team

Just like the old days when we used to get excited for strapping on our light up shoes, packing our spiderman lunch box, and trekking out to the bus stop to have mom snap a few pictures before our first day of school, FANSHOES is once again excited for a new school year to start!

FANSHOES is rolling out a bunch of new products this fall and is also pumped to announce that we have 10 awesome students representing the brand on campuses across the country. These reps are going to be bringing some “sole” to campus and will be hooking students up with free swag, discounts, and some tips to get you ready to cheer on your school’s squad.

This fall we will be at University of Cincinnati, University of South Flordia, University of Central Florida, Syracuse University, Notre Dame University, and Virginia Tech. Please click on the schools to check out our Campus Rep twitters!

Please stay tuned to our site for more info on our Campus Reps and to view their profiles, which will be released when we release our new website in the next week or so! Also keep an eye out for our new mobile site that was created by our very own Marcus Recck. He has been working very hard these past few weeks as he is stepping into his new role of CTO.

As exciting as the end of summer is, it has been a bit bittersweet. We have had to say goodbye to a number of awesome FANSHOES employees as they return to school or pursue other endeavors like joining the Peace Corps in Rwanda. Pretty cool, right? Good luck to Lyla, Rebecca, Ivy, Matt, and Tyler and thank you for all your hard work!

Recently FANSHOES was featured on a prominent Mommy Blog, Mommy Ramblings. We are so thankful for Carolyn featuring us and giving a great review of our product. Feel free to check out her review of FANSHOES here. 

Mommy Ramblings is doing a giveaway and a promotion through her blog post so be sure to go check that out and maybe even win a pair of FANSHOES for yourself! Thanks again Carolyn for featuring us on your blog!

What better way to spend a Saturday night than watching a bunch of girls in fishnets and roller skates beat the living FANSHOES out of each other? Last Saturday we were invited by the President of the ROC city roller derby (Muffy Stopheles) to check out the travel debut of the travel team, the Roc Stars.

Sitting in the “suicide seats”.

Since Roller derby is a pretty niche sport, I thought I’d give you all a little history lesson a la Wikipedia:

Vintage derby.

Roller derby has been around in one form or another since the 1880’s when the “derbies” were simple endurance races on roller skates. When many think of roller derby, they have vague associations with over-the-top, WWF-esq phase the sport went through in the 1970’s. While definitely still theatrical in nature (the girls have names like Queen Kicktoria, Torya Anewone, and Susan B. Agony and both matches I’ve been to have been MC’d and ref’d by a pretty quirky cast) the humor is very self aware and the actual game play is serious.

The players, especially the Roc Stars, displayed an extraordinarily amount of athleticism. Before the match began, their very well dressed coach conducted drills where the girls practiced complicated blocking moves and weaving in and out between players.

A little strategy meeting. Look at the coach’s serious threads!

 In short, Roller derby is a good natured, but very much contact, sport.

The pivot of the Garden State trying to hip-check another defender.

So you’re probably wondering a little about how the game is actually played. This is my second time seeing derby, so I think I’ve got the jist of it now. Each team has five players on the rink at a time. The game is split up into roughly two minute long “Jams”. One player from each team is called the “Jammer” and they wear a fancy helmet cover with a star on it.

Roc Star Jammer, Toxin Dioxin.

The Jammers are the only players who can score points and they tend to be small, fast and very good at weaving in and out of players. Ahead of the two Jammers is a mass of blockers (the eight other players) which are collectively referred to as “the pack”. The leader of each team’s blockers is called the “pivot”. They wear a helmet cover with a stripe on it and all other blockers on the team need to stay behind their pivots. The pivots essentially set the pace.

Roc Star Jammer and Team Captain Roxy D. Sniper gets ready to break through the Garden State defense.

When the game starts, both Jammers are trying to dodge and muscle their way through the pack by avoiding enemy players and using friendly players as shields and momentum boosts. The first Jammer to get through the pack is called the “lead Jammer”. It’s very good to be the lead Jammer, because it means that at any point during Jam, they can choose to wave their hands and stop the Jam (for instance, they can do this if they see the other Jammer is about to score). After either Jammer first passes the pack, they start scoring points each time they pass a player on the enemy team. Sometimes the lead Jammer is just ahead of the other Jammer; in this case, they’ll pass a few players on the enemy team and then call the Jam over before the other Jammer can score. Other times, the lead Jammer will be so ahead of the other Jammer that they can lap the pack multiple times before the other team can score a single point.

The refs have specific hand signals —- this one signals the current skater is the lead Jammer.

Fouls have a huge play in determining the outcome of the game. To prevent egregious harm to the players, the Jams are pretty heavily refereed and a lot of overly dangerous moves (grabbing enemy player limbs, head butting someone etc) will send players straight to the “penalty box”.

Saturday’s match was a double header and started with Rochester’s B-team (The B-Sides) battling it out against the Hellions of Troy. The match was very close. The Hellions started ahead at first, but the B-Sides quickly caught up and the rest of the match the two teams stayed neck and neck. At the end, the dust cleared and the B-Sides were victorious.

B-Side Jammer “moving” Hellions of Troy pivot out of the way.

The second match-up was the Roc Stars versus the New Jersey team, “Garden State”. “Garden State” started out winning a few lead Jams, but fell behind fairly early in the game and struggled to keep up. Their strategy was to play very defensively and they would occasionally make impressive jam scores when Roc Star Jammers would foul and be in the penalty box. Ultimately, though, the speed and aggressiveness of the Roc City Jammers (Asa Clubs and Toxin Dioxin to name a few) won out.

Go Roc Stars, go!

Some of the profits from the night’s games went to a local charity, the Animal Service League. The league was also running a drive for soap for another local charity, Sample Soap. All-in-all the derby was a great time. Next match is August 13th in the Dome Arena, check it outtt.

~guest article by Lyla, FANSHOES CTO.

Lately it seems like rainy days are pretty few and far between here in Rochester. Apparently this isn’t the case down in Florida. Here are a couple tweets we received from a couple friends of ours these past few weeks.

Chelsea, is one of our Campus Reps at USF for this upcoming Fall. We are very excited to have her as part of the FANSHOES team and are looking forward to the impact she is going to have on the USF campus. Be sure to connect with her on twitter at @sea_rae

The next tweet is from Andy Guze, one of the Co-Founders of Flying Colors. Flying Colors is another collegiate licensed clothing company that is selling some great products. Be sure to check them out and connect with them on twitter @FLYINGCOLORS_. 

Thanks for connecting with us guys. To the rest of our fans and followers out there, please stop by and say “hey” to us on Twitter and Facebook. We love hearing from you guys!

Miami has the big three of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh. While they came up just a little short in their quest to bring the NBA Championship Trophy back to South Beach, FANSHOES, Klutch Apparel, and Legacy Athletic are going to deliver in bringing you the ultimate fan package! This summer the “Big Three” will be giving away 1 pair of FANSHOES kicks, 1 Klutch Apparel Product, and 1 LEGACY Hat! Oh yeah, and did we mention you will get a complimentary $50 gift card to a local eatery?  

To enter the contest you need to “Like” all three of our FB Pages (The links above will lead you to each of our pages). Current fans of any of the brands only need to like the companies they do not currently like in order to be entered. The contest will run from July 1st to August 15th. Please visit our Facebook Page or the pages of the other companies for full contest details and don’t hesitate to connect with us on twitter with any questions or comments, we would love to hear from you!

Have a great 4th of July and good luck in the contest!

The FANSHOES office during summer is about as exciting as the last 5 minutes of a Final Four showdown between Duke and North Carolina. We may not have the referees or the delicious nachos covered in melted cheese but we have tons of fans joining us every day to share their thoughts on the latest sports news and have a little fun in the process.

Almost every day we are having contests, questions, or promotions that can earn you free gear and that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you are showing pride in your team! 

Here is a look at our weekly summer schedule:

Monday: Question of the Day on Facebook - We want your opinion on one of sports most buzz worthy topics, here is your chance to share it with us!

Tuesday: Quote of the Day on Facebook - We post a famous quote or a sound-bite from a recent news story and the fans go at it to see who is the first to guess who said it!

Thursday: Capture the Caption on Facebook - We post a picture on our Facebook page and the fan with the best comment as a caption wins a pair of free FANSHOES boots!

Friday: Check out our tumblr page for news, product releases, our favorite sports videos, and other fun stories!

The best way to stay in touch with FANSHOES is through our twitter, @FANSHOES so please stop by and say hey to us on there! We look forward to hearing from you on Facebook and tumblr and hope you have a great summer!

Despite some rain and some gray skies, the models were able to light up the Village Gate a couple weekends ago during our FANSHOES photo shoot. As you can see we are going to be releasing some new products soon, including our slip-on canvas shoes which should be hitting the store shelves in the fall.

The rain was out in full force down at the Village Gate but luckily the FANSHOES team came armed with umbrellas and cameras and was able to make it a very successful and fun day. The photos turned out great thanks to the models Nick, Gabby, Pheobe, Brittany, Tonya, and Amanda. Thanks again guys! Another big thanks to Dark Horse Coffee for allowing us to use some of their space to use these photos. Dark Horse Coffee is another one of those great companies that makes the Rochester community so awesome to be a part of.

Please stay tuned to our Facebook for updates on products, news about the company, as well as free product give-aways. Who doesn’t love free shoes? Also feel free to say hey to us on Twitter. We are always excited to meet new fans.

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” - Henry Ford

Here at FANSHOES we are bringing in 5 interns for this summer to help us develop our brand as well as our product line. We have 3 graphic design interns, 1 finance intern, and 1 marketing intern. We are looking forward to the opportunities that await us here at FANSHOES now that we have so many talented individuals on our team. 

Here is a closer look at each one of our summer interns:

Conrad Naugler - Finance Intern

Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA

School: Conrad will be a senior at Mercyhurst in the Fall

Major: Accounting

Fan of: Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Penguins, Tottenham Hotspurs, Pittsburgh Panthers, USF Bulls

Favorite Sports: Soccer, Football, Lacrosse

Favorite Athlete: Luca Modric, Steve Johnson

Favorite Quote: “Dare is to Do.” - Tottenham Hotspurs

Interests: Playing Soccer, Playing FIFA, Working Out, Conrad started the Mercyhurst Soccer Club

Contact Conrad at Conrad@myfanshoes.com

Ivy Oswald - Graphic Design Intern

Hometown: Kutztown, PA

School: Ivy graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2010

Major: Industrial Design, Received an Associates Degree in Graphic Design

Fan of: Philadelphia Eagles, RIT Tigers

Favorite Sports: Olympics

Favorite Athletes: Mia Hamm, Lance Armstrong

Artistic Influences: Keith Haring

Interests: Snowboarding, Action Movies, Drawing, Watercolor, and her iPhone

View Ivy’s Portfolio at ivyoswald.com or contact her at Ivy@myfanshoes.com

Matt Anderson - Graphic Design Intern

School: Matt will be a senior at SUNY Fredonia in the Fall.

Major: Visual Arts and New Media with a concentration in Graphic Design

Fan of: Syracuse Athletics

People of Influence: Carl Sagan, Robyn Pecknold, Mark O’Brien, Neil Geiman

Interests: Art (Nicholas Feltron), Graphic Design, Road Biking, Hiking, and Skateboarding

View Matt’s portfolio at mattandersondezign.com or connect with him on Twitter at: @MM_Anderson

Rebecca Liebert - Graphic Design Intern

School: Rebecca will be a junior at the School of Visual Arts in New York City in the Fall. Rebecca has received an Associates Degree in Visual Communications from Monroe Community College

Major: Double majoring in Graphic Design and Advertising

Fan of: NYU Violets, Buffalo Sabres, New York Yankees

Favorite Sports: Hockey and Soccer

Favorite Athlete: Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres’ Goalie

Artistic Influences: Paul Rand

Interests: Plays Piano, Plays Guitar, Sings, Writes her own music, Draws, Paints, Photography, and has an interest in local musicians

Contact Rebecca at Rebecca@myfanshoes.com

Tyler Prichard - Marketing Intern

School: Tyler will be a senior at Virginia Tech this fall.

Major: Marketing Management Major with Minors in Business Leadership and International Business

Fan of: Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Reds, Virginia Tech Hokies, Ohio State Buckeyes, Syracuse Orange

Favorite Sports: Lacrosse, Basketball, Football

Favorite Athletes: Ken Griffey Jr., Michael Jordan, Michael Vick

Business Influences: Gary Vaynerchuk, Seth Godin, Johnny Cupcakes, Sam Calagione

Interests: Playing Basketball, Social Media, Entrepreneurship, Brewing, Reading Business Books

View Tyler’s Blog at tylerprichard.tumblr.com or connect with him on Twitter @TylerPrichard

All of us here at FANSHOES are super excited to have our new interns. We look forward to the progress we will make this summer and the success we will have when we all work together, just as Henry Ford once said. We are working on a lot of cool projects and I think our fans will be excited to see what we will be rolling out soon. Stay up to date with us on Facebook and Twitter @FANSHOES and feel free to connect with us anytime. We’d love to hear from you!

Have a great summer!