The first Bata store in Brazil was opened in 1932. Some years later, affiliated companies as well as a shoemaking factory were established. Since 1960, a company forming part of the Bata Shoe Organization based in Toronto had been doing business in the country.
- In 1932, Tomas Bata was selling shoes in the company’s own store – Curitiba.
- In July and August 1939, employees of the Bata company travelled from Zlín to Brazil in order to develop shoe production in the country; the first shoemaking workshop was set up in Sao Paulo; from here, the production was later on moved to a newly built factory – Batatuba.
- In 1940, the company entitled Companhia Sapaco para Comercio e Industria, Batatuba, as well as the company Cima – Companhia Industrial Mercantil e Agricola, Sao Paulo, were established.
- In the summer of 1940, the company Bata, a.s. Zlín acquired the companies Companhia Commercial Alto Parana, Sao Paulo and Companhia de Viacao, Sao Paulo.
- The four companies acquired and established in 1940 were managed by Jan A. Baťa; he remained in possession of the same companies after World War Two as well.
- In 1942, the Sapaco company based in Batatuba produced shoes and, in addition, socks, rubber products, etc. Besides the shoemaking production, a tannery was situated in Batatuba. The operation of the shoemaking factory and of the tannery continued in the following decades as well, coming to an end in 1983.
- Thanks to the efforts of J. A. Baťa, the Batatuba municipality was founded in 1940, followed by the foundation of other municipalities: Mariapolis (1943), Bataguassu (1948), Bataypora (1954).
- In 1960, a Bata-owned affiliated company forming part of the Bata Shoe Organization based in Toronto and established by Thomas J. Bata carried on business in Brazil. A new shoemaking factory was built in the country; around 1968, this Brazilian company had a staff of 600, the annual sales amounted to 6 million pairs of shoes.
- 1962 – The list of Bata-owned companies located on the territory of Brazil according to historical records includes the company Ancora Companhia de Industria e Comercio S.A. (Brazil); the same company, i.e. Ancora S. A. Industria e Comercio, was also included in the list compiled by the Bata Shoe Organization in 1978.
- Originally, the company also owned factories in Recife and in Sao Paulo; around 1990, the company owned a total of three factories.
- In 1993, the company suspended its business activities in the country.
Sources:
- Bohumil Lehár, Dějiny Baťova koncernu, Prague 1960
- Vladimír Nálevka, Československo a Latinská Amerika v letech druhé světové války, Prague 1972
- Hana Kuslová, Z počátku baťovských společností v Brazílii, In: Acta musealia of the Museum of South-East Moravia in Zlín, Volume 5, 2005, ISSN 0852-8548
- Hana Kuslová, Představení osobnosti J. A. Bati, In: Jan Antonín Baťa – život a dílo, pokračovatel práce Tomáše Bati, Zlín 2007
- Dolores Ljilijana Bata Arambasic, Projekt kolonizace a osídlování Mato Grosso, In: Jan Antonín Baťa – život a dílo, pokračovatel práce Tomáše Bati, Zlín 2007
- Jaroslav Pospíšil – Hana Pospíšilová, Rub a líc baťovských sporů, Zlín 2012, ISBN 978-80-7473-037-5
- Alain Gatti, Chausser les hommes qui vont pieds nus, Metz 2004, ISBN 2-87692-619-9
- Tomáš J. Baťa, Švec pro celý svět, Prague 1991
- Thomas J. Bata, Remembered, Zlín 2016, ISBN 978-80-7473-398-7