The sports bra’s creation began when Lisa Lindahl reported painful discomfort from a regular bra while jogging, leading to a prototype later patented as Jogbra.
The Story
The sports-bra invention is rooted in jogging discomfort in the late 1970s, during the period when jogging was widely popular and books such as Jim Fixx’s running guide were gaining attention.
Lisa Lindahl, who took up jogging at the University of Vermont in 1977, said she found a regular bra uncomfortable because wires chafed her skin and her breasts bounced painfully.
In a call to her sister, Lindahl’s complaints led to the joking idea of a jockstrap for women, and Lindahl set out to solve the problem.
She recruited her friend Polly Smith, then working as a costume designer, and together they brought in Hinda Miller to develop a prototype designed to be seamless, breathable and provide compression.
The trio eventually built a workable design by sewing two jockstraps together, and Lindahl and Miller later patented the design and co-founded Jogbra Inc. in 1979.
Miller secured a $5,000 loan from her father and additional support for manufacturing partners, and the company pitched the product to boutique shops and trade shows.
The Jogbra arrived on the market at a time when women’s participation in high school and college sports was rising after Title IX took effect.
Jogbra remained in Lindahl and Miller’s hands until Playtex Apparel bought it in 1990, and Playtex was later acquired by Sara Lee, with the product then absorbed into the Champion brand.
Nike later launched its first sports bra in 1990.
The design received later recognition when Lindahl, Miller and Smith were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2022, and the Jogbra was identified as U.S. Patent No. 4,174,717.
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