Sonja and Thomas Bata head the largest and most successful
family-run business in the world, selling just one simple
but indispensable article of clothing - the shoe. Their inspiring
story is told in the Life & Times of Sonja and Thomas
Bata.
From its beginnings over a hundred years ago, the Bata Shoe Organization has sold more than 14 billion
pairs of shoes - greater than the number of pairs of human
feet that have walked the earth. It was Thomas Bata's father,
a ninth generation cobbler, who founded the company in Czechoslovakia.
His enterprising spirit, idealism and commitment to his workers
formed the company's credo. Tomas Bata Sr. was a demanding
father who groomed his son from an early age to run the company.
When Thomas Jr. was 17, his father died in a plane crash.
From then on, he resolved to carry on his father's legacy.
Sonja Bata says: "His worry in life is that he might not
live up to his father's goals, that he might fail his father."
Thomas Bata
Sonja Bata
By the 1930s, the Bata Shoe Organization was
looking to explore the North American market. Thomas Bata
wanted to make his mark. "I wanted to do something where
I could say okay now this enterprise I built on my own. Canada
was the one country that I selected for this experiment."
Thomas Bata came to Canada and founded a successful shoe factory.
He never looked back. And he did not disappoint his father's
legacy.
After the war, Bata returned to Europe where he met and married
Sonja who was impressed by this "capitalist with a social
conscience." Sonja Bata's fashion sense and business acumen
was to be a boon to the growing business. Together they would
carry out the dream of Tomas Bata Sr. of putting shoes on
the feet of every man, woman and child. They established companies
in countries all over the world, employing local people and
local materials. They built an international shoe empire.
And Sonja Bata went on to create the largest shoe museum in
North America to fulfill her twin passions, shoes and architecture.
Having built a network of more than 4,700 retail stores and
60 shoe-production facilities in over 30 countries, Sonja
and Thomas Bata are about to turn over control of the business
to their eldest son, Thomas George Bata.
