Jim Throneburg
Posted February 13, 2020
LEWSVILLE, N.C. – James L. “Jim” Throneburg, the owner of THORLO, Inc. and one of the most prolific inventors in the sock industry with more than 20 patents in the USA and several foreign countries, died February 9, 2020 at his home here. He was 82.
Throneburg had more than 60 years of experience in the hosiery industry. His father, Lewis, founded what was originally Thorneburg Hosiery Mill in 1953. Jim Throneburg joined the business as a partner in 1960 after graduating from high school and then serving in the United States Navy Submarine Service for two years after high school aboard the USS Albacore, the forerunner of the Polaris Class nuclear submarines. The first product the company made in the 1950s was a wool sock made under subcontract for the United States Army.
Throneburg was taught by his father to “be the best” and the highest craftsmanship and quality values in hosiery manufacturing, focusing on high-quality, profitable products and away from the price competition model that dominated hosiery.
THORLO, Inc. is the successor to the original Thorneburg Hosiery Mill in Statesville, N.C. Throneburg and THORLO are the originators of the activity-specific functionally designed and engineered performance sock, beginning with the Thorlos® line in 1980. This line continues today with distribution throughout the USA and 35 or more foreign countries all over the world. THORLO is one of a small group of sock manufacturers in the USA still making 100 percent of their products in the USA.
“I was sad to hear about Jim’s passing,” Dan St. Louis, director of the Manufacturing Solutions Center at Catawba Valley Community College, told eTC. “He was a real innovator for many years and was one of the first sock companies to create sports-specific socks with engineered padding in specific areas using various yarns and knitting techniques. As a result THORLO built an extremely loyal following of customers that stayed with the brand. Jim had a true passion for his company and people. He will be missed.”
Jim Chesnutt, chairman of National Spinning Co., Washington, N.C., said he knew Throneburg for many years.
“The hosiery industry lost a creative genius and a great businessman,” Chesnutt told eTC. “He was instrumental in developing and marketing an outstanding line of foot-care products. He will be missed.”
Throneburg and Thorlos have sponsored many peer-reviewed published research projects that have appeared in numerous medical journals, and this medical research has driven Thorlos sock brand into the preventive and therapeutic health field. Thorlos sock products have been shown by peer-reviewed research and thousands of consumer letters to reduce pressure and shear forces on the diabetic foot, reduce blisters, reduce arthritic pain in the foot and increase circulation.
On the heels of this research, Jim and Thorlos founded The Institute for Preventive Foot Health, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to research and education related to preventive and other types of foot health issues. IPFH has published all the Thorlos related research at www.ipfh.org. Throneburg was elected to the National Sporting Goods Association Hall of Fame in 2016 for his pioneering work in the field of performance socks.
Throneburg is survived by six children and five grandchildren. His son, Lynn, has been CEO of THORLO since 2018.
Sources: eTC and THORLO
Obituary
THORLO owner Throneburg was prolific inventor in sock industry
A special remembrance of Jim Throneburg
"No foot, no horse!" Aside from myself, no one in the hosiery industry appreciated this 18th century proverbial saying more than Jim Throneburg. Not only did we share a passion for horses and hosiery, we each wrote children's books and were born in the month of February.
It goes without saying that the mold was broken when Jim Throneburg arrived on the scene. A strategist and a visionary unlike any other the socks industry had ever experienced. Jim liked to refer to himself as a pioneer as well as inventor. After all he did coin the term “sports specific” that served as the catalyst for generations of brand success for Thorlos.
It was both an honor and a privilege to know and work with Jim. The voracious reader that he was, there wasn't a topic he couldn't discuss at length, and at times debate, until we cried uncle.
All kidding aside, customer relationships were of the utmost importance to Jim. In fact he lived by the slogan, "we are the caretaker's of the world's feet." Those customer reviews were in essence gospel, and the leadership team reviewed them daily. I can still hear Jim's voice inside my head saying, "We're in the relationship business that just happens to sell socks."
Eve Sawyer once said, "Never underestimate the power of passion. Passion not only speaks to us, it guides us and fuels our finest moments."
Thank you, Jim, for sharing your passion. I'll be forever grateful to you for the strategic mindset you instilled in me as well as so many others whose finest moments are yet to come. Rest easy my friend, until we meet again.
By Sally Kay
Former president & CEO, The Hosiery Association
And former consultant to Jim Throneburg