The Story Of The First Sports Bra

Although a “Free Swing Tennis Bra“ was marketed as an athletic bra for women in 1975, its design was similar to that of a standard bra. It wasn’t until 1977 that a true sports bra came on the scene. It was created by jogger Lisa Lindahl and costume designer Polly Smith, with “creative“ input coming from Lindahl’s husband, who allegedly wore a jockstrap on his chest and joked, “Here’s your jockbra, ladies.“ After actually stitching two jock straps together, the women realized they had invented something that did in fact provide the support they were after. They improved on the “jockbra,“ submitted a patent, and eventually made the Jogbra, which closely resembles the sports bras women wear today.