Bally Shoe Museum

18 November 2021

When Swiss watchmakers were conquering the world, another episode began in the village of Schönenwerd (canton of Solothurn). The beginning of the Bally shoe dynasty.

In 1847, Carl Franz Bally (1826-1899) took over his father’s company, which specialised in producing silk tapes. Based on this production, he specialised in making shoes for the better classes in 1851. The first factory was built in this village in 1853.

His creativity, entrepreneurial spirit and organisational skills led in a few decades to the fifth largest employer in Switzerland (over 3 700 jobs) in 1905 and a global network of factories and shops in Europe, North and South America.

Arthur (1849-1912) and Eduard (1847-1926) took over the company’s management, then called C.F. Bally Söhne, in 1892.

The Bally Shoe Museum (Bally Schuhmuseum) was established in 1942 in the old residence of the founder Carl Franz Bally, the Haus zum Felsgarten.

The twelve-room collection is one of the largest in the world and traces the history of footwear from ancient Egypt, 3 000 B.C., to the present day.

The museum has also paid extensive attention to the history and products of Bally since 1851. The brand still exists but has not been a family business since 1977. Bally has changed the village of Schönenwerd and given it the (industrial) look of a town.

The brand has also provided footwear for generations of royals, including Beatrix and Elisabeth II, aristocrats, dandies, miniskirt wearers, conservative bankers, and top business people.

Top athletes or unique events have always been of interest to the company. Olympics, mountaineering, hiking, tennis or (winter) sports, Bally often made footwear, especially for the occasion.

For example, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay (1914-1986) wore reindeer skin boots made by Bally when he climbed Mount Everest with Edmund Hillary (1919-2008) in 1953.

The museum (Bally Schuhmuseum) shows the (creative) history of the company in guided tours by appointment or on Saturday afternoons.

(www.schoenrewerd.ch/www.bally.ch).