Visiting my family, I checked the old collection of L'Illustration magazine on the shelves. In a 1932 issue, I red a long article about Tomas Bata who just happened to die in a plane crash. Tomas Bata had a very special wish: he wanted to convince Indians to wear shoes, so that he could sell them Bata shoes.
Here are some houses built by Tomas Bata in the Czechoslovak town of Zlin. In France we also have one Bataville (Hellocourt), a town built in 1931, far in the fields and far from the bad influence of the big cities (being unmarried at the age of 25 meaned being fired by the company, in the old times of the Bata life.)