Gender equality in sports is a field historically rife with obstacles, even in the 21st century, from legal battles over equal pay to concerns over sexism and access . It wasn't until the 1970s that federal legislation prohibited sex discrimination in some sports. Paving the way for female-identifying involvement in sports came with its own hurdles and hoops.
One such obstacle blocking women's involvement in athletics was centered on anatomy: breasts. (As it turns out, this continues to be an issue for teenage girls.) Some social media posts and online claims suggested that inventors sought to remedy the issue by creating the first sports bra, which was made by "sewing two jock straps together," including the below Reddit post, which had received more than 8,900 upvotes at the time of this writing.
One object on display is a prototype of the so-called "Jogbra" from the 1970s, which reflects the "fitness boom at a time when women had few athletic clothing options."
The Jogbra was the first patented sports bra, invented by three women who sewed together jock straps. This claim is True.
Alison Oswald , an archivist at the National Museum of American History, also confirmed to Snopes that there is " primary source evidence that it was named "Jockbra" before being renamed 'Jogbra.'"
A photograph of the prototype sports bra, shown below, described it as having been made by Hinda Milla and Lisa Lindahl, who "deconstructed two men's athletic supporters and sewed the pieces" together in 1977. (ICYMI: Athletic supporters are another name for jockstraps, according to the Urology Care Foundation .)
Left: Prototype of the original Jogbra. Right: A late 1970s Jogbra advertisement features the two co-designers as models. (Jogbra, Inc. Records, 1977-1990, Archives Center, National Museum of American History)
The patent for the "athletic brassiere" was filed on Dec. 1, 1978, and published 11 months later. It credited three women inventors – Hinda Schreiber (later Miller), Eugenie Lindah, and Polly Smith – and described the product as follows:
An athletic brassiere, particularly suitable for women runners, holds the breasts comfortably and snugly to the body. A wide elastic rib band and elastic straps which cross in the back hold the brassiere firmly in place. Non-irritating material is used and all seams face the outside. All hardware is eliminated. The cups are not shaped but are preferably made of elastic material to pull the breasts in snugly against the body.
During the 1970s, more women than ever before were participating in sports and fitness activities. In 1977, Lindahl, who was a runner, asked Smith, a costume designer, to help fashion an undergarment to minimize the discomfort she experienced on runs. That summer, Miller was working with Smith as an assistant designer for a Shakespeare festival in Burlington, Vermont. As someone who had been physically active since childhood, she joined the project to develop an athletic brassiere. When Smith sewed two jockstraps together and Lindahl tested them on a run, they produced a working prototype.
Miller and Lindahl commercialized the invention as the Jogbra®, co-founding their company, Jogbra Inc. — later renamed JBI — in 1977 with Miller in charge of future product design, manufacturing, collaborating on marketing strategies and serving as company president. The Jogbra launched a multi-billion-dollar industry.
According to the National Museum of American History , Playtex Apparel bought the Jogbra brand in 1990 before selling it to Sara Lee Corporation in 1991. The museum wrote:
The Jogbra was the first example of the garments now known generally as sports bras, an industry that has grown in direct proportion to the increased participation of women in athletics generally since 1977. Lisa Lindahl originally wanted to solve the problem of having sore breasts after running, resulting in the invention of the jog bra which has evolved into the sports bra as we know it today.
Museum archivist Cathy Keen wrote in a 2014 column titled, " Jogbra: Providing essential support for Title Nine and women athletes ," that the "introduction of the sports bra did more than improve athletes' performances. It represented a revolution in ready-to-wear clothing, and for many women athletes, past, present, and future, it actually made sports possible."
The invention of the sports bra came a half-decade after Title Nine of the Civil Rights Act , which was signed into law on June 23, 1972. The amendment prohibited sex discrimination in any educational program or activity that received any type of federal financial aid, according to the advocacy group, Women's Sports Foundation . For more on the history of women's involvement in sports, check out this brief history written by the Georgia State University Library .
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