Bata Shoes (Czech: Baťa or Baťovy závody) is a large, family owned shoe company based in Bermuda but currently headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The company was founded in 1894 Zlín (then Austro-Hungarian Empire, today the Czech Republic) by Tomáš Baťa (Czech pronunciation: [ˈtomaːʃ ˈbaca]), whose family had been cobblers for generations. A large order from the army, military shoes and rising demand for them, during World War I started rapid growth and small manufacture turned into modern industrial concern, one of the first mass producers of shoes.
Tomáš Baťa was recognized for his social conscience, establishing housing, cinemas and advancement programmes for his employees. The phrase "work collectively, live individually" is one of his sayings. Baťa recognized the potential of large-scale production, and was often called the "Henry Ford of Eastern Europe". He saw technology as a means of progress, and wanted to make the shoes as cheaply as possible so that the greatest number of people could access them
In 1932 Tomáš died in a plane crash at the Zlín airport (attempting to take-off under bad weather conditions) and his half-brother Jan Antonín Baťa became head of the company.
At the time of Tomáš's death, the Baťa company employed 16,560 people, maintained 1,645 shops and 25 enterprises. Most of what Tomáš had built was centralized in Bohemia-Moravia (15,770 employees, 1,500 shops, 25 enterprises) and Slovakia (250 employees and 2 enterprises). The total international contribution to the Baťa organization at the time of Tomas's death consisted of 20 international enterprises, 132 shops, and 790 employees.
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