Thomas Bata, figurehead of Bata, one of the pioneers of a global footwear and leather industry, has died in his adopted home, Toronto, at the age of 93.
Mr Bata, who was born in Prague on September 17, 1914. He took control of the family footwear production business after his father’s death in an air accident in 1932.
Based in Zlin, Moravia, in the Czech Republic, the company was then making about 36 million pairs of leather shoes a year and, anticipating by several decades the path the global footwear industry was to take, was exporting to all parts of the world—including Asia and the Americas—while also operating retail shops in several European countries.
With Europe apparently heading toward war in 1938, Mr Bata decided to establish a North American operation. In his autobiography ‘Bata, Shoemaker to the World’, he explained that Canada was his choice because of the stories about the country that he heard from his mother in childhood.
His company now employs an estimated 40,000 workers in factories in 25 countries and sells about 300 million pairs of shoes a year.
Thomas George Bata became chairman and chief executive of the company in 2001, but his late father remained active in its operations and carried business cards listing his title as ‘chief shoe salesman’. At his death, according to the International Herald Tribune, Mr Bata was planning a tour of the company’s European operations.
