page_title: Zlín
section_title: Zlín and Tomáš Baťa (1894–1932)
hierarchical_section_title: Zlín / History / Zlín and Tomáš Baťa (1894–1932)
caption_attribution_description: Čeština: Zlín
context_page_description: Zlín is a city in southeastern Moravia in the Czech Republic, the seat of the Zlín Region, on the Dřevnice river. The development of the modern city is closely connected to the Bata Shoes company and its social scheme, developed after the First World War. From 1949 to 1990, the city was renamed Gottwaldov.
context_section_description: The town grew rapidly after Tomáš Baťa founded a shoe factory there in 1894 when the population was approximately 3,000 inhabitants. Baťa's factory supplied the Austro-Hungarian army in World War I as the entire Moravia region was part of the empire. Due to the remarkable economic growth of the company and the increasing prosperity of its workers, Baťa himself was elected mayor of Zlín in 1923.
  Baťa became the leading manufacturer and marketer of footwear in Czechoslovakia in 1922. The factory in Zlín was modernized and expanded before 1927. Tomáš Baťa created a distinct management system around 1924 and sought convergence of interests of entrepreneurs and employees. Besides producing footwear, the company diversified into engineering, chemistry, rubber technology and many more areas. The factory hired thousands of workers who moved to Zlín and lived there in large, sprawling garden districts. Between 1923 and 1932, the number of Baťa employees in Zlín grew from 1,800 to 17,000; the city population increased from 5,300 to 26,400. In those years, the number of trades and crafts increased from 150 to 400. Apart from the Baťa company, there were about five other shoe factories in the city. A network of quality schools, a large hospital, and a number of cultural and physical education associations were available to the residents of the town.
  In 1929–1932, Tomáš Baťa set up branch offices in more than twenty countries in Europe including United Kingdom, Africa, Asia, United States, and Canada. Stores and footwear factories in these countries were managed from the headquarters in Zlín. Baťa Company employed a total of 31,000 people in 1932. Factories and adjacent residential districts were built according to the model of Zlín in the following locations:
  1931 Ottmuth (Germany, now in Poland)
  1932 Chelmek (Poland), Borovo (Yugoslavia, now in Croatia), Möhlin (Switzerland), Hellocourt (Bataville, France)
  1933 Tilbury (England), Batanagar (India)
  1934 Best (Netherlands)
  1939 Belcamp (Maryland, USA), Batawa (Canada)
caption: Still popular Baťa houses
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