Jim Thompson Silk Shop
Jim Thompson or James Harrison Wilson Thompson was born in Greenville, Delaware. Thompson spent his early years of education at St. Paul's boarding school. He graduated from Princeton University in 1928. Post-graduate studies followed at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Architecture. At the height of the Second World War, Thompson was recruited by William Joseph Donovan to serve in the Office of Strategic Services. His first assignment was with the French resistance forces in North Africa. He was then sent to Europe. After Victory in Europe Day (May 7–8, 1945), he was transferred to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). He was assigned to contact the pro-Allied Seri Thai or Free Thai Movement, which was planning an uprising against the occupying Japanese Army. In August 1945, Thompson was about to be sent into Thailand, when the Surrender of Japan officially ended World War II. He arrived in Thailand shortly after Victory over Japan Day and organized the Bangkok OSS office. Thompson left the army in 1946. After his divorce, he devoted himself to revitalizing a cottage industry of hand-woven silk.
In 1948, he partnered with George Barrie to found the Thai Silk Company. The establishment achieved a coup in 1951 when designer Irene Sharaff made use of Thai silk fabrics for the Rogers and Hammerstein musical, The King and I. From then on, the company prospered. Thompson’s formula for success hinged on two factors.
“In the first instance,” he said, “we run a dependable operation. Whenever we come up with a pattern or color that sells well, we make sure we stick to its exact formula. That way, our customers can rest assured that when they re-order, they will get a consistent product.”
“Equally important,” he mentioned, “is that the cottage industry in this part of the world is more significant than what most people realize. Most of the weavers in this area either don’t care or don’t need to know who are buying their products. But it is necessary for us to know what our customers’ tastes and requirements are.”[2]
Besides inventing the bright jewel tones and dramatic color combinations nowadays associated with Thai silk, he raised thousands of Thailand's poorest people out of poverty. His determination to keep his company cottage-based was significant for the women who made up the bulk of his work force. By allowing them to work at home, they retained their position in the household while becoming breadwinners. It was only after Thompson's disappearance that the Thai Silk Company relocated its weaving operations to Korat, a city which serves as a base of operations for the Royal Thai Army. Although it abandoned home-based weaving in favor of factories in the early 1970s, the Thai Silk Company's Korat facility looks more like a landscaped campus than a factory.