Jim Thompson Thai Silk Company
Phuket
At a glance
Thai silk is a 'must buy' item when shopping in Thailand with some of the most vivid colours and dramatic colour combinations available from Jim Thompson Thai Silk Company. Silk is available by the metre for use in areas such as home furnishings, decor, clothing and ready-to-wear garments and accessories.
The most well-known silk company, Jim Thompson was founded by was founded in 1951 by the American entrepreneur and former US military officer. Thompson effectively revitalized a cottage industry of hand-woven silk, which had for centuries been a household craft in Thailand but was dying out. He provided color-fast dyes, standardized looms, and technical assistance to a group of Muslim (Cham) weavers in a Bangkok neighbourhood raising thousands of Thailand's poorest people out of poverty and making millionaires out of his core group of weavers by giving them shares of the Thai Silk Company.
In addition to the factory outlet in Phuket, there are five Jim Thompson Thai Silk Company shops at Canal Village Laguna, Kata Thani Beach Resort & Spa, Central Festival Phuket, Le Meridien Phuket Hotel and Turtle Village.
