Netherlands

Bata opened the first store in the Netherlands in 1920, and a year later a sister company was founded. By 1930, the number of company stores had risen to 30. In 1934, production was started at a new factory in Best, and a residential housing estate was built. This production and residential complex was named Batadorp. In addition to leather and rubber footwear, production of tires (1935), stockings and socks (1936) were added. Before World War II, Bata company had, beside the factory in Best, 128 outlets in the country, and soon affiliated companies were founded. After the war, business development continued and peaked in the 1960s. The sales network declined in the 1990s, but production activities continue also nowadays.

  • In autumn 1920, Bata established own shop in Amsterdam
  • On July 25th 1921, the sister company N.V. Maatschappij voor Schoenen Lederindustrie Bata, Amsterdam was established; it was still active in 1933 with the name N. V. Maatschappij voor Schoen en Lederindustrie Bata, Amsterdam
  • In 1922 two new outlets were opened, and in 1924 four new shops and two new stores in 1925 appeared
  • In September 1923, the Czechoslovak Embassy in The Hague succeeded in negotiation an exemption (reciprocity on sale) so that Bata “would not have to close its stores in the Netherlands”
  • In April 1926, Bata opened a shop in Groningen; in 1928 another new shop was established, in 1929 another one, in 1930 five new shops opened
  • In February 1930, there were 10 outlets in total in the Netherlands
  • In 1930, a sister company N. V. Hollandsche Handelmaatschappij Bavé, Amsterdam was established; the name N. V. Handel Mij Bave, Amsterdam was also used
  • In 1931, 12 new stores were opened, in 1932 three others; in May 1931, other stores opened  in Rotterdam, Groningen, Hilversum
  • In 1933, the sister company of N. V. Nederlandsche Schoen en Lederfabrieken Bata, Amsterdam, began to operate. It worked under the name N. V. Nederlandsche Schoen en Lederfabrieken Bata, Best in 1934
  • On August 9th – 10th 1933, sales transactions were negotiated – the municipal council in Best sold 160 ha of land for the 62,250 gulden to the Baťa affiliated company N. V. Nederlandsche Schoen en Lederfabrieken Bata in Amsterdam
  • In 1933 the construction of the company´s town area in Best began
  • On March 24, 1934, the first factory building in Best-Batadorpa was ceremonially opened; After the start of the operations, 300 workers were working there. On beginning of production, in Best there were specialists from Zlín
  • During the 1933–1940 period, 14 production and operational buildings were built under standard projects from Zlín; at the same time construction of residential houses for employees began; in the years 1933–1941, 64 houses and 4 dormitories were built. Residential houses were designed according to the Zlín model (apparently with the participation of architect Antonín Vítek); production and residential area was named Batadorp
  • In 1934, the first group of Dutch boys went to Bata´s apprenticeship school in Zlín (Bata School of Labor)
  • In February 1935, the company started the production of its own brand tires; the Zlin experts introduced the production that reached 5,395 pieces in 1938
  • In 1936 the factory complex in Best was comprised from 3 large factory buildings (three-stores) and 14 smaller halls; the factory produced leather and rubber shoes, there was also a tannery, a paper mill (production of cardboard boxes), the production of shoe creams, and a machine shop
  • In 1936, the company started production of stockings and socks
  • The residential area was equipped with a dining hall (it also served as a cinema, theater, for church masses), boys´ and girls´ dormitory, school, shops
  • Sports and cultural activities were supported by the Bata Ontspannings Vereniging society (which organized soccer, hockey, tennis, ping-pong, theater association, brass music, film screenings); inhabitants of Best also had access to a well-maintained swimming pool and cultural center
  • In July 1937, there were already 100 company stores in Holland. This number increased to 125 shops in December 1937; during 1939, the number of stores ranged between 125 and 128
  • In 1937, annual production reached nearly 2,000,000 pairs of shoes in Best, with nearly 1,300 employees working in the factory
  • In 1938 the Bata Dutch company produced 1,892,119 pairs of shoes (of which 1,139,279 leather and 752,840 rubber) and 1,297,842 pairs of stockings
  • In March 1938, the sister company Abex Mij voor Advies en Bemiddeling in Exportzaken N. V., Eindhoven was established; This enterprise served for the management and coordination of the Bata companies in Western Europe and overseas; in May 1939, Abex was transferred to Cambridge, England
  • In autumn 1939, Bata had 2,642 employees in the Netherlands; of which 1,311 worked in production, 1,000 in sales, 276 in auxiliary professions and 55 in purchasing
  • Around 1940, leather footwear was produced by 8 workshops, rubber footwear by 4 workshops, with annual production of 2 470 000 pairs; During mid-1939, the production of socks and socks was 998,000
  • On March 24, 1940, the enterprise Inovex N. V., Amsterdam (Internationale Organisatie voor Im-en Export N. V.) was founded
  • In 1942, the company N. V. De Tabaksplant, Amsterdam (N.V. Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van het gebouw “De Tabasksplant”) was purchased
  • In 1943, the company employed 3,303 people, of which 2,111 worked in the factory and 1,192 in retail network; leather shoes were produced (in 8 workshops) and rubber footwear (in 5 workshops), in a total of 2 785 000 pairs
  • In 1944, the number of employees was 3,359 (of which 2,029 in production, 1,289 in stores and 41 in the construction department)
  • After the end of World War II, a company training center in Best was reopened, which was later recognized by the Dutch Ministry of Education (1950)
  • 1962 – On the list of historically existing Bata companies, the following enterprises were registered for the Netherlands:
    • N.V. Handelsmaatschappij Bavé (Holland)
    • Koma Koophandel (Maatschappij voor Import en Export N.V. (Holland)
    • N.V. Inovex (Holland)
    • N.V. de Tabaksplaant (Holland)
  • Around the year 1965, there were 150 outlets in the country sales network; 2,500 people worked in factory in Best, which produced women´s, men´s, children´s shoes, and as well sports shoes, socks and stockings
  • In the following years – around 1970 – the number of company employees dropped: from 3,000 to 1,000 and then later to 600
  • In the seventies, the production in tannery, gum mill and paper mill was terminated
  • Around 1975, the factory manufactured mainly safety shoes and stockings
  • In 1978, Bata sold 120 hectares of land with farmland, a residential area and part of an industrial complex with several buildings and a sports ground to Best Municipality; the Municipality administration sold dwellings to existing tenants; Bata still retained the core of the factory complex
  • In 1996, the last company store was closed in the country
  • In 1999, the factory employed 280 employees in the production of footwear and socks
  • Around 2004, working shoes were produced in the factory in Best
  • Bata Company in Netherlands published several periodicals: since 1934 Bata – Koerier and De goede verkooper, later Kerstkoerier Bata (1951) was also published

Sources:

  • Thomas J. Bata, Remmembered, Zlín 2016, ISBN 978-80-7473-398-7
  • Miroslav Kabela, Češi a Slováci uvízli v holandských močálech a bažinách, IN: Holandsko a my, Haarlem 1993, s. 162-165
  • Elisabeth van Meer, Modernity on „Brabant´s Heath“ Building Batadorp in the Netherlands, 1932-1959, IN: Ondřej Ševeček, Martin Jemelka (edd.) – Company Towns of the Baťa Concern, s. 165-177, Stuttgart 2013, ISBN 978-3-515-10376-3
  • Leon van Meijel – Teake Bouma, Batadorp, ruimtelijke en cultuurhistorische verkenning, Nijmegen 2011, 107 s. (https://www.gemeentebest.nl/data/downloadables/1/8/6/4/ruimtelijke-en-cultuurhistorische-verkenning-batadorp.pdf; 20. 3. 2018)
  • Wim Berkers, Wilhelminadorp tussen Bata en Best, Geschiedenis tot 1960, 1983, 43 s.
  • Inocenc Krutil, Nevšední osudy Baťova exportéra, Luhačovice 2014, 214 s. ISBN 978-80-85948-83-7
  • Jaroslav Pagáč, Tomáš Baťa a 30 let jeho podnikatelské práce, Praha 1926, 328 s.
  • Alain Gatti, Chausser les hommes qui vont pieds nus, Metz 2004, ISBN 2-87692-619-9
  • Martin Marek, Bouřlivá léta: Baťovské podnikatelské aktivity v širší střední Evropě za druhé světové války, In: Slovanský přehled – Slovanské historické studie, roč. 100, 2014, č. 3, 629-687
  • Martin Jemelka – Ondřej Ševeček, Tovární města Baťova koncernu, Praha 2016, 910 s. ISBN 978-80-200-2635-4
  • Moravský zemský archiv v Brně – Státní okresní archiv Zlín, Česko
  • Best Archiv, Netherland