Who We Are
Thomas Hill is a division of TSD Associates, LLC based in Winston Salem, NC. Our boxer shorts are made in America with some of the finest cotton fabric imported from Pakistan.
Tom Douglas retired as CEO of Douglas Battery Manufacturing Company in 2014 after fifty-five years of employment with his family's business, interrupted by two and one half years as an intelligence officer in the US Army. He began his entrepreneurial venture by working with others to create and develop new ideas and products. The decision to manufacture boxer shorts was not simple. It would require research to come up with the best of the best for Thomas Hill boxer shorts.
We wanted American made fabric, but it was only available in quantities much larger than our need or it was not the quality and feel that we wanted in our boxer shorts. It was a must that our boxers be manufactured in America, and that did not seem possible. We overcame these obstacles and designed a boxer with a relaxed fit that is manufactured in North Carolina by a cooperative based in Morganton. Our search for 100% fine cotton fabric took us to a distributor based in New Jersey who brought in fabrics from Pakistan. We engaged pattern designers with the explicit instructions on sizing; our boxers are sized 32-42, not small, medium or large. The other pieces to the boxer shorts – elastic from Florida and labels from Tennessee – are some of the finest.
Made in America was very important for us to get in the clothing business. This sounds like a no-brainer, but finding an America manufacturer that would accept small quantity orders of 50 dozen or 100 dozen was impossible. Fortunately, we found a co-op in Morganton, NC that embraced the same values of quality and timeliness that we have. This is their story…
The Story of Opportunity Threads
Growing up in Morganton, North Carolina, Molly Hemstreet watched the economic unraveling of her community and wanted to explore a business model where industrial work was not so easily extracted. In 2008, she started Opportunity Threads, a cut-and-sew textile firm. OT is now one of the strongest worker-owned, immigrant-led manufacturing firms in the US.
Most of the workers at OT are currently Mayans of Guatemala, and have a long and vibrant history in the Morganton community. Everyone is hired with the expectation of becoming a worker-owner. Each member-owner buys into the company and has an equal vote in the business’s decisions.
