Sporting Witness
Sporting Witness
Why I invented the sports bra
Up next
February 14, 2019
9 minutes
Available for over a year
When Lisa Lindahl couldn't find a comfortable bra to run in, she decided to design one. In 1977 she and a friend fashioned the first modern sports bra out of two pairs of men's supportive underwear or 'jockstraps'. Lisa told Rebecca Kesby how they perfected their design with the newly available stretchy fabrics of the late 1970s, and went on to build a multi-million dollar company.
(Photo: An early advertisement for "Jogbra" 1979. Courtesy of Lisa Lindahl's private collection.)