Bata Shoes

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Bata Shoes (in Czech Baťovy závody) is a large, family owned shoe company. It is currently headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, and operates business units (Bata Europe, Bata Asia Pacific-Africa, Bata Latin America and Bata North America). It has retail presence in over 50 countries, production facilities in 26 countries. In its history the company has sold 14 billion pairs of shoes.

1 Foundation
2 Led by Jan Antonín Baťa
3 During the war
4 After the war
5 In Czechoslovakia after 1989
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Foundation

The company was founded in 1894 in Zlín (then Austro-Hungarian Empire, today the Czech Republic). It was founded by Tomáš Baťa (pron. toh-mahsh bah-tyah) whose family had been cobblers for generations. A large order from the army during World War I started rapid growth and small manufacture turned into modern industrial concern, one of the first mass producers of shoes.

[edit] Led by Jan Antonín Baťa

In 1932 Tomáš Baťa died in a plane crash and his step-brother Jan Antonín Baťa became head of the company. The company grew quickly and spread throughout Europe, North America, Asia, and North Africa. The company established itself in India in 1931 and started manufacturing shoes in Batanagar in 1936.

Jan Antonín Baťa established subsidiaries in several foreign countries (for example in Brazil, Britain and Canada) in 1939 in response to the unstable political situation in Europe. A Bata-owned Lockheed plane was flown out of Czechoslovakia 2 days before German occupation, which took place on 15 March 1939. The plane made it to Britain where it was dismantled and shipped to Canada.[1]

Company policy was to set up villages around the factories for the workers and to supply schools and welfare. These villages include Batadorp in the Netherlands, Baťovany (present-day Partizánske) and Svit in Slovakia, Baťov (nowadays Bahňák, part of Otrokovice) in the Czech Republic, Bataville in Lorraine, East of France, Batawa in Canada, East Tilbury [2] in Essex, England, Batapur in Pakistan and Batanagar and Bataganj in India.

Apart from shoes, Baťa also diversified into other areas (tyres, toys, plastic fibres, etc.). Zlín factory was place of headquarters and largest part of the company.

[edit] During the war

When Germany occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia (1939) Jan Antonín Baťa tried to save as much as possible, subduing to the plans of Germans as well as supporting financially the exile government led by Edvard Beneš. Foreign factories were separated from mother company and ownership of plants in Czech lands was transferred to one member of the family.

Jan Antonín Baťa stayed in the Americas from 1939-1940, but as America entered the war, he felt it would be safer for his co-workers and their families if he left the United States. At the moment he left the protection of the United States, the British placed him on the "black list." The official reason for this was Mr. Bata's inability to pay a demand by the British government amounting to 250,000 pounds sterling (a huge sum of money at the time). The United Kingdom insisted on the huge bail due to the fact that Mr. Bata was the owner of largest industrial concern in Czechoslovakia, located in enemy territory and employing more than 40,000 Czechs and Slovaks. During the war, Jan Bata helped hundreds of jewish families to escape from Czechoslovakia, sending them all over the world throughout the Bata organization and beyond the Nazi's reach. During the war, among other patriotic deeds, Jan Bata devised a plan to save more than 100,000 of his countrymen from Nazi concentration camps by setting up plans for a Czech/Slovak infrastructure buildout plan for a highway and aquaduct system. This frustrated the Nazi decrees for taking unemployed Czech/Slovak persons and sending them to concentration camps in Germany and elsewhere. This road and aquaduct system was actually built, based on Mr. Bata's book "Building a nation of 40,000,000" (circa 1938). During the war Jan Bata was also the largest contributor to the Czech cause prior to Munich and after. Even though he disagreed with the politics of Edward Benes and Jan Masaryk, he gave monitary support to them during the war. More than 250 of the famous Czech pilots were trained at the Jan Bata's aerodome in Zlin in preparation for the German invasion. Many of whom fought against the Germans. Jan Antonin Bata was foremost a Czech/Slovak patriot who put the needs of his country first, above all else.

[edit] After the war

After the war Jan Antonín Baťa attempted (unsuccessfully) to purge his name of the accusations against him. Members of the family started to sue one another over ownership of the company; mutual hatred among branches of the family lasted for decades. In 1945 the company was nationalised as a part of large scale nationalisation program in Czechoslovakia. It is important to note that in spite of incredible odds and a political climate that had put the machinery in motion to nationalize all large businesses, Jan Bata fought against the 64 crimes that the communists had accused him of. And in fact, the jury at the time, composed mostly of socialists and communists found Jan A. Bata innocent of all 64 charges. The verdict enraged the communist judge, who immediately added two new charges, declared Jan Bata guilty, then used this guilty finding as a reason to confiscated all Bata properties in Czechoslovakia and sentenced Mr. Bata to 15 years of hard labor in absentia.

After the communist party took all power (1948) it tried to suppress all memory of Tomáš Baťa, and Jan A. Bata. Baťa was portrayed as a ruthless capitalist, exploiting his workers in pursuit of higher profit (see Svatopluk Turek). The company was renamed to Svit and city Zlín to Gotwaldov (after the leader of communist party). The Svit factory concentrated on the domestic market. During the following decades its ability to compete and its technological infrastructure declined due to under-investment and weak management.

Bata Shoes' former headquarters in North York, Ontario is an historic building dating to the 1960s designed by architect John Parkin. It was scheduled to be demolished after 2005 and replaced by an Islamic cultural centre^[1] after being denied historical status. The Baťa family and the company have founded Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, supported Trent University, where the Thomas J. Bata Library bears Baťa's name and Tomas Bata University in Zlín.

The organisations abroad became Bata Shoe Company and were led by Thomas J. Bata (Tomáš Baťa Junior), son of Tomáš Baťa. In 1960 the headquarters were moved to Toronto, Canada and the company grew significantly. Since 2002 it is led by Thomas G. Bata, grandson of Tomáš Baťa.

After the global economic changes in 1990s the company closed almost all its manufacturing factories in developed countries (USA, France, United Kingdom) this caused the elimination of thousands of jobs and it stayed only in retail business there. In developing countries still run manufacturing, for example in Zimbabwe's third city of Gweru, it is the biggest shoe manufacturers in Southern Africa outside of South Africa.

Current shoe brands are Bata, Bata Premium (handcrafted dress shoes), Bata Industrial (safety footwear), Bubblegummers (children's), Power (sports shoes and boots), and Marie Claire (women's).

[edit] In Czechoslovakia after 1989

After communist party lost its power (1989) Thomas J. Bata was warmly welcomed by the population and the new government upon his arrival in December 1989. Czechoslovak government asked (unsuccessfully) for investments into the ailing Svit. Since companies nationalised before 1948 were not returned to original owners the state owned Svit was privatized during voucher privatization. Its low ability to compete in the free market led to decline and in 2000 Svit went bankrupt.

Baťa a.s.

Nowadays, Baťa a.s. (the official name of the Czech subsidiary) is mainly a trading business. Apart from shoe stores, it also runs a small production facility in Dolní Němčí, a shoe museum in Zlín and Bata Foundation (Nadace Tomáše Bati), which supports cultural and educational projects. The main street in Zlín and its university are both named after Tomáš Baťa.

In 2004 the company was the subject of a film "Bata-ville - We are not afraid of the future" produced by Somewhere in the United Kingdom. Against the backdrop of economic regeneration, former employees of two now closed UK Bata factories are led on a unique journey through Bata’s legacy and across a changing Europe.[3]