You likely don’t know the chafing, strap-slipping and soreness that women a generation before us felt when they ran or did some other form of physical activity.

That’s because we have sports bras, possibly the most under-appreciated item in any woman’s wardrobe.

That high-impact aerobics class would be a whole lot different in your demi bra. (Black eye, anyone?) And weekend athleisure wear probably wouldn’t be a thing.

Two New Jersey women — Montclair-natives Lisa Lindahl and Polly Smith — and Canadian-born Hinda Miller in the summer of 1977 stumbled upon an idea that would help revolutionize women’s involvement in sports.

The invention has been quietly collecting accolades ever since. Most recently, the women were listed among the 2020 inductees into the National Inventors Hall of Fame — alongside the inventors of Ibuprofen and the hard hat.

Five years after Title IX gave girls equal access to sports, the sports bra equipped them to played.

Before Title IX passed in 1972, one in 27 girls played sports. Today, two in five girls play sports, according to the Women’s Sports Foundation.

“Certainly, it’s pretty clear, [the sports bra] has been very significant in terms of participation and getting more women to feel comfortable being active," said Marty Maciaszek, director of communications for the National Sporting Goods Association.

Sports bras currently make up a $13.8 billion industry, according to Statista.

But the undergarment’s most prolific moment is probably when Brandi Chastain ripped off her jersey after scoring on a penalty kick to win the 1999 World Cup for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team.

That all might not have happened if it weren’t for a fateful summer and an unlikely athlete.

Lindahl took up running, on the advice of a friend, in her late 20s when her body stopped naturally burning calories with no effort, as they tend to do.

It was the late 1970s and while many women were burning their bras or just choosing not to wear them, Lindahl needed one.

She was far from an athlete when she started working out. She had followed her then-husband to Vermont where she worked as a part-time secretary, did stain glass art in her basement and had a painting studio in a spare bedroom.

Her first time around the 1/10th of a mile a track at the University of Vermont, she couldn’t even run the whole way. “The first time I made it around that track 10 times, I thought I had won the Olympics,” she said.

She inspired her sister to also take up running and one day her sister called and asked Lindahl what she did to tame her bouncing bosom. Wearing a bra that was one size too small helped but the straps slipped.

“We laughed and said, why isn’t there a jockstrap for women,” Lindahl, 71, said in a phone interview from her home in South Carolina.

"I remember hanging up the phone and thinking ‘that isn’t such a silly idea’, she said. “I pulled out my notebook and wrote down a list of what we needed -- something that would minimize breast movement, not be chafing and the straps wouldn’t fall off.”

Lindahl’s childhood friend, Polly Smith, with whom she had attended Montclair Kimberley Academy, happened to be staying with Lindahl that summer while, Smith, who was a costume designer, worked at the Champlain Shakespeare Festival.

Smith and Lindahl used to cut gym class together. “So she was in wonder at my new running self,” Lindahl said. “When I explained what I needed, it caught her attention. She loved the design challenge.”

After several failed attempts, Lindahl’s husband, at the time, came in with a jockstrap slung over his shoulders to poke fun at them. When the women stopped laughing they realized that might be the solution.

Hinda Miller, Smith’s assistant, went to the University of Vermont’s bookstore the next day and bought two jockstraps. They sewed the pouches together and used the thick elastic to support the breasts from below. It was the first working prototype of their invention.

The summer of 1977 ended and the women resumed their normal lives, but Lindahl couldn’t get their invention out of her mind so she went to a lawyer and incorporated a business she imagined would be a little mail-order gig she could use to put herself through graduate school.

Polly sourced better fabric in New York City. Dupont had a new material called Lycra that was soft and stretchy that they used to compress the cups of the bra and they found better elastic for support around the bottom of the bra.

Miller found a start-up company in South Carolina that was willing to make a small batch of sports bras for them. And her father loaned the three some money to use as capital.

“It turned out to be the right product at the right time,” Lindahl said. “We were so naive, we didn’t realize that to be profitable your first full year in business was unusual.”

They called their sports bra the Jockbra and later the Jogbra and sold it to sporting goods stores. “We knew nothing about the industry or what we were doing,” Lindahl said. “People were so generous in helping us and teaching us.”

The business grew about 25 percent each year, until in 1990 they sold it to Playtex, which is now owned by Sara Lee.

“We were growing so quickly and had been able to finance the growth internally up until then,” Lindahl said. “But we were getting to the point that we were not going to be able to do that anymore.”

Plus, Lindahl, an artist, said the business was less about creativity and more about maintenance and profitability. “I had been asking myself if this is really the game I wanted to be in,” she said.

Lindahl, who suffers from epilepsy, said for her, the business gave her a voice. She’s written two books, is financially secure enough to spend time making art she is passionate about and served for 9 years on the Board of Directors of the Epilepsy Foundation.

Smith is an Emmy-winning wardrobe designer who worked for Jim Henson’s Muppets, Sesame Street, Blue’s Clues and more.

Miller, a native of Canada, served in the Vermont State Senate for 11 years and is a business consultant.

The sports bra inventors will be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May.

“One of things that really stands out about them, is they truly did impact society,” said Rini Paiva, executive vice president of Selection and Recognition for the hall of fame. Their invention definitely changed how half of the population approaches athletic activities and just activity in general -- which in turn has an impact on their health and well being."

“Also, they created an industry,” Paiva said. “That industry did not exist before they came up with their invention.”

A bronzed sports bra is kept on display at the Royall Tyler Theatre at the University of Vermont. And two others are housed by the Smithsonian and the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Allison Pries may be reached at apries@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter@AllisonPries. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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