At the end of April, Bata Shoes flew me and a bunch of guests from around the world to celebrate #BataFashionWeekend2018 in Milan, Italy. We had the most amazing few days learning about the brand, its initiatives and of course enjoying beautiful Milano. More than sharing what the latest designs by Bata are, they really brought us all the way to Italy to share their story with the world; they’re an affordable but high quality fashion force to be reckoned with, and to showcase that they do more than create school shoes and other footwear essentials. Here, in South Africa they’re synonymous with Toughee school shoes and Tomy Takkies, but on a global scale their range is diverse, stylish and filled with designs for every type of person and occasion, with a history dating back over 123 years.
Their leather collection was what I loved most and they’ve also done some really amazing collaborations. They have the Bata Red Label collection which is a design partnership with Aldo, adorned/bedazzled footwear in collaboration with Preciosa jewels, and their Young Designer Competition Initiative, where students get to design and create a pair of shoes, and the winner gets their shoes made and sold under the Bata name. A female Olympian from Kenya (whose name I sadly can’t remember) has also partnered with Bata to design high quality but affordable performance footwear for sportsmen and athletes.
With their theme for the year and the events inspired by music and consequently dance, the hashtag #TheSoundofStyle was born. As a result, the big runway show we attended was more of a dance show than a catwalk, to show off the superior comfort offered by their shoes. I can vouch for this comfort as I was gifted a pair of block cage heels to wear to the fashion show and was truly very pleasantly surprised that even though it was made of more affordable materials, it looked fantastic on my feet and was extremely comfortable in a way that many high end shoes don’t offer.
I learned so much on this trip, and I hope my posts have you all seeing Bata in the new light that they most definitely deserve.
Check out my at the end of this post where I documented the weekend in Milan, and I added a few snaps of my outfits and exploring too!
xx
By sharing her personal style, fashion and beauty advice, written reflections and more, Fashion Breed is a place for women to learn, relate and connect.
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