After silk originated in ancient China and India where the practice of weaving silk began around 2,640 BCE, Chinese merchants spread the use of silk to different regions throughout Asia through trade. Some accounts indicate that archaeologists found the first fibers of silk in Thailand to be over 3,000 years old in the ruins of Baan Chiang, the site is considered by many to be Southeast Asia's oldest civilization.[2]
However, the silk produced on the Khorat plateau was generally only used for private consumption, with the Thai court preferring to purchase Chinese silk imports. There was an attempt in the early twentieth century to develop the industry, with the help of a Japanese sericulture expert, Kametaro Toyama. But these attempts failed due to a lack of interest locally to produce for a larger market.[3]
However, after World War II, an American OSS officer called Jim Thompson decided that silk would be popular back at home in America and through his connections in New York began marketing the product as a traditional Siamese material. In fact, the material he created had little relationship to what had previously been produced in the country. But through clever branding and by developing a range of 'Thai' patterns, he managed to establish Thai Silk as a recognizable brand.[4]
Writing in the Bangkok Post in 1949, Alexander MacDonald described that 'out of a number of scattered remains of history, from cultures borrowed from Siam's neighbors, and from colonies of fat and lazy Siamese silk worms, Jim Thompson is trying to build a modest business.'[5]