Clothing

Mary Phelps Jacobs was only 19 when she became dissatisfied with the confining corset-style under-garments of the era.  It was 1910, and the wealthy socialite wanted to wear a revealing gown to a debutante ball.  But her tight and restrictive corsets, a typical fashion of the day, poked out from under the plunging neckline.  

Struck with inspiration, she asked a maid to bring her two silk handkerchiefs and a pink ribbon and transformed them into a comfortable undergarment suitable for backless gowns.   

For as long as she could remember, Sara Blakely wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a trial attorney. But she didn’t do well on the LSAT and skipped law school. Her job at Disney World, clowning in a chipmunk suit, didn’t work out well either. So Sara sold fax machines door-to-door for seven years and discovered she was good at sales. She dreamed of marketing something of her own creation.

A pair of pantyhose, some scissors, and a good dose of ingenuity led Sara Blakely on the road to success.