A large part of Zlín is urbanistically and architecturally valuable and is protected by law as an urban monument zone.

[3] There are several legends about the origin of the name of the city, according to which it was derived from slín (i.e. "marl") or zlaté jablko (i.e. "golden apple").

[11] In that time, Zlín was already a market town and served as a craft guild centre for the surrounding area of Moravian Wallachia.

The Thirty Years' War left the town severely damaged and half deserted.

The residents of Zlín, along with people from the whole Wallachian region, led an uprising against the Habsburg monarchy.

[11] Zlín began to grow rapidly after Tomáš Baťa and his siblings founded a shoe factory there in 1894, known as Bata Company.

Due to the remarkable economic growth of the company and the increasing prosperity of its workers, Baťa himself was elected mayor of Zlín in 1923.

Besides producing footwear, the company diversified into engineering, chemistry, rubber technology and many more areas.

A new large complex of modern buildings and facilities was gradually built by the Baťa's company on the outskirts of the town in 1923–1938.

The development took place in a controlled manner and was based on modern urban concepts with the contribution of important architects of the time.

Zlín was most severely affected by the war in 1944, when it was bombed by the U.S. army and large parts of the factories were destroyed.

[11] The communists took over management of Zlín and Baťa factories, and in October 1945 the Bata company in Czechoslovakia was nationalised.

The city strengthened its position as administrative, economic, educational and cultural centre of eastern Moravia.

[5] The largest industrial employer with headquarters in Zlín is TAJMAC-ZPS, a manufacturer of machine tools with more than 500 employees.

Bata Corporation (in the Czech Republic officially known as Baťa a.s.) is now primarily a trading company and shoe production takes place outside the city.

[16] The Zlín agglomeration was defined as a tool for drawing money from the European Structural and Investment Funds.

Winter version of international music festival Masters of Rock takes place in Zlín.

The city also has teams in other sports including volleyball, basketball, Czech handball, softball and rugby.

The city's architectural development was a characteristic synthesis of two modernist urban utopian visions: the first inspired by Ebenezer Howard's Garden city movement and the second tracing its lineage to Le Corbusier's vision of urban modernity.

[20] From the very beginning Baťa pursued the goal of constructing the Garden City proposed by Ebenezer Howard.

The urban plan of Zlín was the creation of František Lydie Gahura, a student at Le Corbusier's atelier in Paris.

Being returned to Tomáš J. Baťa, the son of the company's founder, the building now houses the headquarters of the Thomas Bata Foundation.

This technological marvel became the largest cinema in Central Europe in its time with a capacity of 2,270 seated viewers.

It included a room-sized elevator housing the office for the boss, comfortably furnished – with a sink, a telephone, and air conditioning.