Tisza Cipő

In the 1930s, Thomas Bata came to Hungary to open a shoe factory somewhere in the country. During a journey he visited Martfű where the railway, public and water traffic meet, and he found it suitable for the Tisza Cipő factory. He bought the parcel in 1939, which was 593 cadastral hold, and he paid, 325000 pengő for it. The construction begun and the Cikta Rt., which was the former name of the shoe factory, started the production of loungers in 1942.

During the Second World War many things changed in the factory, directors of the factory frequently alternated, however; the Shoe factory never shut down. After the war, the factory suffered many losses, for instance; wooden treaded shoes were manufactured instead of the rubber ones. In August 1949, The Cikta Rt. was renamed to Tisza Cipő Nemzeti Vállalat (Tisza Shoe National Corporation).

During the 1950s and 1960s, the factory produced shoes for the inner market and exported only to socialist countries. At these times, they produced a large quantity of boots for the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Defense and the Civil Guard. In December 1970, The Tisza Shoe Factory wanted a new logo instead of their old one, and then they put in the application for the authorisation of their new logo, which they obtained in the first months of 1971. Finally, the Tisza company started to produce sport shoes, which very soon became one of the favourite shoes of the youth. Many facts show us that the production of sport shoes was a very good decision. For instance, from May 1971 the German Adidas manufactured its football shoes called La Paz in the Tisza factory. From the beginning of the 1970s many new models came to light, some of them were very similar to today's old school type of shoes. One of the first shoes, which the Tisza Factory produced, was a rubber sole – vulcanized – gym shoes which were manufactured in many colours. The variety of sport shoes is widened and besides the normal shoes long-legged style shoes were produced and also different shoes were produced leather and linen for different sport activities.

At that time the Tisza factory was the biggest shoe factory in Hungary-where not only shoes were manufactured but other factories rubber soles. They produced 10,000,000 pairs of shoes annually and 3,000,000 of them were gym shoes. Besides the quantity, the factory took care of the quality. In July 1970, the gym shoes which sole were made of PVC won the excellent product prize. The shoes profited very well, in 1975 the export value of the brand exceeded 2 million 300 thousand dollars, and Tisza accounted for one fifth of the total Hungarian shoe exports to the Western countries. At the 1976 Budapest International Fair, the Tisza leisure shoe family won the Fair's prize. 1976 brought several international successes for the Tisza Cipő factory. For instance, the French ADIDAS signed a multi-year contract with them and the factory's production appeared on the English market. At the same year an agreement was made on the first American export were not only casual shoes were ordered but 50 thousands sport shoes. Tisza shoe company also produced 2 million pairs of shoes for the socialist market. In the 1970s, the Tisza shoe company's products reached the Kuwait's and Liberia's markets. 1976 brought further development.

In the 1990s, the import increased and more and more brands could get into the domestic market. Until the middle of the 1990s, the Tisza Shoe factory made sport shoes and after that, it started manufacturing street shoes for women, men and children. From the summer of 2003 the Tisza company has again started to produce sport shoes. Besides the old models, they produce new ones.