Tomáš Baťa‘s company

1894 – Siblings Antonín, Anna and Tomáš Baťa set a company with original name A. & T. Baťa in Czechoslovakia – Tomáš Baťa was in the lead of the company. He introduced a new trend called “baťovky”. These cloth shoes were available for everybody, including lower class.

1905 – 250 employers – 2200 pairs of shoes per day. The famous motto: “Our customer, our Lord” 1917 – 2 million pairs of shoes per year. More than employers. The company Baťa started to build new shops, factories and hospitals, schools and blocks of flats.

1927 – production raised from 9 million to 15 million pairs of shoes per year 1931 – Baťa is the main exporter of footwear in the world. He set many factories in Switzerland, Germany, England, France, Yugoslavia, Netherland, USA and India.

1932 – Tomáš Baťa had a tragic flight accident on the way to Switzerland and he died. His younger brother Jan Baťa became a new leader of the company. He started to produce tires, planes and bicycles. Tomáš J. Baťa, the son of Tomáš Baťa, assembled The first international congress of young Baťas.

1934 – the company was becoming more and more famous. It has even gained two ships for the transport across the sea – part of the Company management under the leadership of Tomáš J. Baťa starts to operate from Batawa, near Toronto, Canada.

1945 – All Baťa companies in Eastern European countries are nationalized by communist governments. 1970s – private labels are created to be marketed to new customer segments: Bubble gummers, Power, Marie Claire, North star.

1989 – with the fall of Communism, Tomáš Baťa is invited by the new president, Vaclav Havel, to return to the Czech Republic and received a hero’s welcome. New stores are opened for example in Zlin.

1995 – Partnership develops in Eastern Europe. Stores reopen in Russia, Poland, Croatia and Slovenia 2001 – Grandson of Tomáš Baťa, Tomáš J. Baťa became a new leadership of the company

Nowadays Tomáš Baťa a.s. engages in charity, modernizes factories,…In Padova, in Italia was setting European Shoe Innovation Centre. This centre maps research of new materials and technologies. The Baťa a.s. company is the biggest shoe seller in the CR, has 83 stores. Store on the square of Vaclav in Prague is the biggest store in the Europe, has 5 floors.

Baťa stores sells brand shoes like are Adidas, Nike, Power, Salomon, Vans, DC Shoes, New Balance, Columbia a Reebok. Baťa serve over 1 million customers per day, employs over people, has stores in 5 continents, more than 50 countries.

Thanks for your attention!