Company says new sole design will be out in June
BATA Malaysia has ceased producing its B-First school shoes design, which was said to have the word “Allah” imprinted on its sole.
Its managing director,
Paolo Grassi, said it would instead replace it with a new design this June.
“Our priority is the customers’ needs and satisfaction, and the change we made is to show that we (Bata) pay attention to surrounding issues.
“The Home Ministry’s Al-Quran Printing, Control and Licensing Board has announced our old sole design has nothing to do with the word ‘Allah’ but we would like to take precaution by stopping its production.
“We have decided to change the design and it is expected to reach our customers by June,” he said in a press conference at Menara Bata, Damansara Perdana here yesterday.
On Feb 8, a school in Batu Pahat, Johor, released a letter to students to not buy the B-First shoes as it had the word “Allah imprinted on the soles.
Bata had removed more than 70,000 of the shoes from its stores after the story had gone viral.
“We lost more than RM500,000 in four weeks after the allegation went viral,” said Grassi.
Meanwhile, Bata stated that it had nothing to do with the sandal imprinted with the words Ya Hayyun Ya Qayyum words.
Grassi said Bata was aware of the case and informed the public that the sandals were not produced by the company.
“We would like to prevent the confusion among the public and consider this a mistake.”