The Bata Shoe Company was formed by a family of cobblers coming from Zlín, Moravia in the then Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Czech Republic). The three siblings spearheaded by Tomáš Bata, his brother Antonín and his sister Anna started the company in 1894 and their immediate hit on the market was to sew shoes from canvas instead of leather. Within 10 years of their existence, they went on to mass produce shoes. The first of the great wars gave them a huge business after which they expanded to many countries. The second war was an unpleasant experience for both the founder and the business. In 1964, the Bata Shoe Organisation moved its HQ to Canada and as a reaction to global economic changes, the HQ moved to its present location Lausanne, Switzerland in 2004. Read more about Bata – http://bit.ly/1mT0ubi
