Workers' paradise: The town built by Czech version of Henry Ford

"He wanted to prepare completely educated, highly skilled, active people who could live anywhere," says Pavel Velev, executive director of the Thomas Bata Foundation, which is named after Tomas's son.

'Class enemies'

But the dream came to an end after the Soviet takeover. The Batas – "class enemies" – fled to Canada and Brazil. The factory was nationalized and produced cheap footwear, while the city was renamed Gottwaldov, after the country's Stalinist dictator. "The Bata name was forbidden," recalls Mr. Velev.

But not forgotten. The Batas had trained thousands of engineers, scientists, designers, doctors, and other professionals who continued to staff area schools, farms, and factories. "They ... passed on their thinking to their children and grandchildren," says Miroslava Stybrova, curator of the Zlin Shoe Museum.

Even under the Communist regime, a Bata-esque empire emerged on a cooperative farm in nearby Slusovice. The director gave managers wide autonomy and encouraged innovation. By the mid-1980s, the "farm" made PCs, software, tractors, fertilizers, insecticides, and processed dairy goods. It raised racehorses, mastered embryo transfer techniques for cows, and provided construction services. It ran its own management schools, health centers, and recreational facilities.

"Slusovice was like a little capitalist town in a communist country," recalls Jan Zamazal, who teaches shoe design at Tomas Bata University. "This economic miracle was backed up by reformers in the government, but it was following the model of Bata."

A cobbler's legacy

The farm was disbanded after the "Velvet Revolution." But "many of the companies around here today were started by people involved with Slusovice," says Jana Buch, head of the university's product design department. "They had seen what could be accomplished with hard work and good thinking, and they were ready to take responsibility for their own life."

Even after the Svit shoe company collapsed in the 1990s, people found jobs in hundreds of new start-ups, more than any other city save Prague. The university, founded in 2001, is an economic engine.

Zlin still faces many challenges. Parts of the 96-acre shoe factory have been renovated, but most remain derelict. Regional wages are low and unemployment growing. But locals say Bata's spirit of innovation lives on.

"The worst damage the Communists did to people was to take away any responsibility so they would just be standing waiting for someone to tell them what to do," Ms. Buch says. "That's the difference between Zlin and many other places. People know they can do it."

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