Fuzi was founded in 1996 by Xijun Fu. While dancing professionally; he became increasingly troubled with not being able to find a pair of dance shoes that fit comfortably and would last.
So he decided to make his own. After much thought and hard work, the brand of Fuzi shoes was born. It started very small, 70 pairs of pointe shoes and a couple hundred pairs of slippers.
Eventually, by word of mouth, Fuzi gradually grew and the news spread across the United States and then the world. A shoe this good couldn’t be kept a secret.
Then, in 2002, the company moved to Washington State to open their retail store called "Fuzi Dance Etc." for ease of travel between their new factory in China and the United States.
The company has continued growing, constantly pushing to create longer-lasting, high quality products while always listening to the dancers they are made for.
Xijun Fu was born in QingDao, China and began his dance training at the distinguished Beijing Dance Academy. He was viewed as a special talent at an early age and proved his gift by receiving the highest marks in his class throughout his academy career. He was rewarded for his hard work and dedication at age 18 when he was asked to join China’s premiere ballet company, the National Ballet of China, as a soloist dancer. He was then continued to excel and impress everyone in the dance world with his skill and performance.
Fu then left China in 1985 to become a guest artist in a cultural exchange program with Ballet DE Santiago in Chile under the direction of former ABT star Ivan Nagy. Fu returned to China a year later with the intent to focus his energy on becoming an instructor at the Beijing Dance Academy.
Then in 1988 he was asked to join the Cincinnati Ballet/New Orleans City Ballet where he danced numerous leading roles. Fu and his wife, Fang Li, left China to take this opportunity with the vision of expanding his knowledge of dance into directing and became director of several companies. Afterwards, Fu and his wife moved to Washington to pursue their dance shoe company, Fuzi.
Xijun Fu currently stays in touch with dance world by teaching and coaching. He says “It’s very important to know what a dancer needs, I can’t know that unless I’m in their world.”
Using his own experience, and that of current dancers, Fuzi continues to grow and develop shoes that are designed by a dancer, for dancers.