I\'m brand new to Java/Spring/Thymeleaf so please bear with my current level of understanding. I did review this similar question, but wasn\'t able to solve my problem.
If you want to use converters in th:text attributes, you have to use double-bracket syntax.
(They are automatically applied to th:field attributes)
http://www.thymeleaf.org/doc/tutorials/2.1/thymeleafspring.html#double-bracket-syntax