BataStory.net

1890-1895

In 1890 Tomas Bata is fourteen. He has helped to his father to sell the shoes on the local market already for long , but now he had finished his school and become an appprentice at his father’s workshop. Well – he has no advantage there. On the contrary: he is ridiculed and beaten by his older mates, so in his fifteen he decides to leave and to try his luck in Vienna.

Heinrich Herz proved the existence of electromagnetic waves. Henry Ford had found his factory producing cars in Detroit.

Tomas comes to see his sister Anna, serving there as a housewife like many girls from Moravia in the Austrian family. He hopes that she will help him to start his own existence there. Anna really does so, but a simple slipper, which Thomas tries to make and sell in rich spoiled Vienna is far to any success. So he eventually comes back to his father. Nevertheless, this apparently grim episode has a great significance for his life and will even result later in his commercial principles: the ability to make goods, whatever amount or quality is not that important as a the ability to sell it.

Until then unknown American Gillette finds out exchangeble razor blades for shaving. Soon all the world starts to call them Gillettes. In London, the famous Tower Bridge is opened.

After two years Tomas receives his father’s consent to an indenpendent business trip to Prague. And with his suitcase full of samples he meets there success. From Prague he managed to bring so many orders that it solves family situation. His father, impressed by his son’s initiative assigns him increasing responsibility, but Tomas business plans – after what he saw in Vienna and Prague – are completely different and tend to real indenpendency. He convinced Anna, who returned from Vienna, as well as the elder Antonin to leave their father and move to Zlin, where they would set up they own shoemaker business.

Nikola Tesla discovered multiphase electric streams with rotating magnetic field. In the U.S. he sets up the first long-wireless transmission and reception stations in the world.

Beginnings of a young company, however, despite of all the enthusiasm, is hard and there will be many errors and mistakes ahead. Advanced equipment at that time in the Zlín region, without electrycity, quite a rare, mostly steam-powered only. Workers work from morning to dark, everyone in the workshop does everything, being paid only when enough of goods is sold. On the other hand – Batas, however, want to be different: The young “industrialists” go to work just turn and with dignity, giving to their workers fixed working hours and weekly wages… Not surprisingly, that soon they cannot repay the bills, they are to fight their suppliers, renew the loans and debts. Moreover sister Anna gets married and leaves them alone…