Fire Guts Historic Bata Shoe Factory in Czech Republic, $7 Million Worth Of Goods Destroyed

Last Updated:July 10, 2026, 00:22 IST

The warehouse was being used by Czech footwear company Vasky, which said it had lost almost all of its stored products.

A major fire destroyed a shoe warehouse at the former Bata factory site in Zlin, Czech Republic, on Thursday, wiping out around 70,000 pairs of shoes and clothing worth about $7 million.

The fire broke out on the ninth floor of the 11-storey building before 0630 GMT. Firefighters said no one was injured, but the blaze remained out of control for several hours and parts of the building continued to collapse.

The warehouse was being used by Czech footwear company Vasky, which said it had lost almost all of its stored products.

Fire Causes Heavy Losses

Vasky founder Vaclav Stanek said the company had suffered its biggest setback since it was launched in 2016.

“We have lost almost everything and we are facing the toughest test in the history of Vasky. It hurts," Stanek wrote on Facebook.

He estimated the value of the destroyed shoes and clothing at around $7 million.

The Czech fire brigade said the fire spread across three floors of the building. Officials added that the structure may have to be demolished if it does not collapse on its own.

Despite the heavy losses, Stanek said the company would continue making shoes at its production sites near Zlin and in neighbouring Slovakia.

“We have lost what we had made, not the reason why we’re doing it. We still have people, the craft, and the resolve to start again," he said.

Historic Bata Site

The fire-hit building is part of the historic Bata factory complex in Zlin, where businessman Tomas Bata founded the famous shoe company in 1894.

After Tomas Bata died in a plane crash in 1932, the business was expanded by his half-brother Jan Antonin Bata, who later moved to Brazil during World War II.

The factory was nationalised after the Communist takeover in 1948 and renamed Svit. It closed after the Velvet Revolution in 1989, and the site was later redeveloped for public offices, businesses and a museum.

The damaged building was originally built as a shoe warehouse in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

(With inputs from agencies)

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