Bata shoes

[koolhistorian]

Are they good for something?

 

[upnorth]

yes, as gifts to colleagues and bosses you hate.

 

[culverwood]

When you are in the bush in Africa.

They were about the only shoe shops around.

 

[Holdfast]

Originally Posted by koolhistorian

Are they good for something?

"Absolutely nothing".

OK, I just couldn't resist the line. But based on the pics I can google up, I suspect it's accurate, too.

Cheap I guess, unattractive certainly, disposable probably. If that's what you want, drive through the red light district.

 

[John Ellis]

Bata has a fascinating history. It was founded in Czechoslovakia when it was still part of the Hapsburg Monarchy before the first world war. The founder Tomas Bata was a model employer way ahead of his time a bit like Cadbury in Britain who built model homes for his employees, provided company healthcare etc. By the mid thirties it had become a worldwide enterprise but of course they had to leave in 1938 when the man with a moustache arrived. I had some contact with the company in the early seventies, they made cheap footwear for the mass market, they were big into injection moulded soles as I recall. The management style was incredibly arrogant and there were alway little turf wars going on in the company.

 

[sdfas5342]

Originally Posted by John Ellis

Bata has a fascinating history. It was founded in Czechoslovakia when it was still part of the Hapsburg Monarchy before the first world war. The founder Tomas Bata was a model employer way ahead of his time a bit like Cadbury in Britain who built model homes for his employees, provided company healthcare etc. By the mid thirties it had become a worldwide enterprise but of course they had to leave in 1938 when the man with a moustache arrived. I had some contact with the company in the early seventies, they made cheap footwear for the mass market, they were big into injection moulded soles as I recall. The management style was incredibly arrogant and there were alway little turf wars going on in the company.
Also he proposed the plan to the Nazi germany to send all slavic people to Patagonia...

 

[John Ellis]

Originally Posted by cluster2600

Also he proposed the plan to the Nazi germany to send all slavic people to Patagonia...

Faced with the Reichschancellor all kinds of people proposed all kinds of crazy things. As someone once said, Neville Chamberlain never met anyone quite like Hitler in Birmingham. No doubt Tomas Bata like a lot of other self made tycoons wasn't immune to the belief he could make a deal with Hitler.

 

[phillys]

We have so much it here and they are generally pretty bad in quality and are unreliable shoes.

Some people call BATA = Buy And Throw Away shoes.

 

[fkl118]

One great contribution by Bata (or at least the Bata family) was the creation of the Bata Shoe Museum:
http://www.batashoemuseum.ca/index.html

It's worth seeing if you're visiting Toronto.

 

[The Deacon]

the beach...?

 

[koolhistorian]

ok, thanks!

 

[The Deacon]

Originally Posted by koolhistorian

ok, thanks!

de nada...

 

[AcuraNSX]

Originally Posted by upnorth

yes, as gifts to colleagues and bosses you hate.

That's good stuff!

 

[Gipper40]

I did some investment advisory work for them and met Mr. Bata in Prague--he got a hero's welcome and people lined the streets of Wecelas Square cheering him on upon his return. He was ahead of his time as an innovator of mass produced footwear. He also was amazingly progressive-for example, his then-state of the art factory in '38, located in Zlin, Moravia, had his office ON AN ELEVATOR that would spend the day on any one of the 5 or 6 levels of his operation, ie one day his office would open up in Marketing, the next, in Production. Maybe we need more of that "hands on appraoch " from our own CEOs. Not even a little man with a funny moustache could keep this man down for long.