SHOETOPIA by Stories from the Eastern West

The real-life brave new world existed and I just learned about it now. Tomáš Baťa was Czech Republic's Henry Ford, who believed in a utopia that is unimaginable today. He was the founder of the shoe company Bat'a and made out of it a utopist company, city and lifestyle for all its workers. It became a quite authoritarian company, with many rules and regulations and somehow nothing truly went wrong. Just listen to this episode and hear for yourselves!

I still remember the moment I got my first pair of Bat'a shoes. My shoes were completely broken down and my parents decided that it's time for me to get proper shoes. Bat'a shoes. I must have been around 8 years old and it was a big day for me. I got a pair of white leather loafers and was officially a grown-up from that day onwards. Bat'a therefore always had a special place in my heart and finally I learned this amazing background story to the brand that was always more than just a brand to me.