Lisa Lindahl, Polly Smith and Hinda Miller Created the Jogbra in 1979
Lisa Lindahl, Polly Smith and Hinda Miller created the Jogbra, the first widely known sports bra, after ordinary bras failed to withstand the demands of running.
The sports bra, without which no serious female athlete today could manage, appeared thanks to three women who experienced firsthand how uncomfortable it was to run in regular underwear. Lisa Lindahl, Polly Smith and Hinda Miller invented the Jogbra model in the late 1970s.
The story began with Lindahl's personal experience. In the late 1970s she ran in an ordinary bra, and it did not provide adequate support during movement. In 1977 she was working at the University of Vermont, where she began looking for a solution. Together with Smith, who became the key creative force behind the project, she developed a design capable of holding the breasts in place during running.
A turning point came when Smith joined two jockstraps, effectively stitching them together. This experimental version became the basis for the future model. A patent was later obtained, and in 1979 the three women founded the company Jogbra Inc. It was then that the idea ceased to be a home experiment and became a commercial project.
The financial start was modest. Hinda Miller received a loan of $5,000 from her father. Initially the product was sold through boutiques and at trade shows, and the business remained a side occupation for the founders. Despite this, demand gradually grew, and each new batch of the product found buyers among athletes looking for practical training clothing.
An important factor was the growth of women's sports following the adoption of Title IX, a law that guaranteed equal opportunities for women in educational sports programs in the United States. More girls and women began to play sports, which created a new audience for specialized clothing. The need for comfortable and supportive underwear stopped being a niche concern and became a mass one.
In 1990 Playtex Apparel acquired Jogbra. A year later Sara Lee bought Playtex, absorbing this brand as part of a larger holding. The same year, 1990, Nike released its first sports bra, which showed how attractive the market had become for major sportswear brands. Competition from global giants changed the industry in which the three founders had once worked.
A notable moment in popularizing the product was an event in 1999, when Brandi Chastain celebrated the US national team's victory at the World Cup by pulling off her shirt and remaining in only her sports bra. Her public gesture drew attention to women's sportswear and showed that such underwear is part of everyday sport, not merely a special accessory for professionals.
Today, sales of sports bras in the United States exceed one billion dollars a year, according to the company Circana. In 2022 the inventors were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, an official recognition of their contribution. The story shows how personal discomfort can grow into an industry of enormous economic significance.
Source: fastcompany.com
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