Prior to entering her junior year at UConn in 2011, attacker Kiersten Tupper, a West Genesee (N.Y.) graduate, recalled laughing after stepping off the field during a five-on-five summer league at Syracuse – not about lacrosse, but about the struggle she had earlier that day shopping for jeans.

As a student-athlete that lifted regularly, she felt “completely demoralized” when nothing fit at the numerous stores she visited, but quickly found comfort in knowing her teammates had the same problem.

That’s when Tupper started brainstorming with her sisters Karlyn, then a freshman defender also at UConn, and Kendall, a former Cornell defender, to create Tenacity Jeans, a U.S.-based company founded by active women for active women. By their definition, active goes beyond athletes. If you walk, you’re active.

“I want females to feel good about their bodies in these jeans – that is our goal,” said Tupper. “That’s what success looks like for us, making them feel empowered and confident knowing that we designed these with them in mind.”

The jeans, priced at $79 per pair in sizes 2-14, are real denim with just two percent spandex and feature a contour waistband that accommodates curvier bodies, which dips below the naval and rises up to the hipbone. In the future, the Tuppers aim to expand to sizes 0-16 with long, regular and short options.

“I will never forget one of my friends said to call it ABC – Athletic Body Clothing,” Tupper said, again laughing, noting that she considered that name for months. “We wanted a word that encompassed us as a family – our values and our work ethic – and we view ourselves as pretty tenacious people.”

The tenacity of these sisters is rooted in their experience as collegiate student-athletes. They recognized how transferrable the skills they learned on the field were to being successful off the field in their careers. Their work ethic was evident through the hours they spent at study hall and the extra time they put in playing wall ball and training.

“Just having all that confidence from being a student-athlete allowed me to really take the plunge and decide that we really do want to try this business – and we went for it,” said Tupper, who earned a master’s degree in educational psychology from UConn and is now a school counselor in the Rondout Valley Central School District in Accord, N.Y.

Their work ethic was again evident by the company’s six-year process to analyze “cookie-cutter” jeans from competitor brands like Levi Jeans, Seven Jeans and Joe’s Jeans, garner feedback from girls and women ranging in age from 14 to 40, visit manufacturers, devise production lines, design the jeans and get samples.

At first, Tupper said they looked at factories overseas, attracted by cheaper production costs, but they couldn’t control the quality. With their jeans’ cotton being grown in Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina, it was crucial to keep their business stateside.

Ultimately, they secured a contract with a manufacturer in Texas, which had the rare machine that creates contour waistbands. The company’s Kickstarter page advertises Tenacity Jeans as “grown and sewn in the USA,” noting the Tuppers’ passion to keep jobs in America, supporting the local economy. 

“It was really important for us to make this a U.S.-based company,” said Tupper. “That’s part of the reason this took years. It is worth it to wait to get the product we want, to control its quality and to have it be USA-made. I’m extremely proud to say they are made in the USA.”

By design, sewn in Texas, Tenacity Jeans aren’t leggings or jeggings. They hold their form while having a little stretch with a built-in curve to provide breathing room. They’re not too big. They’re not too small. They fit “just right,” their Kickstarter page explains.

As the Tupper sisters declare, “every female has the right to find the perfect pair of jeans that make her feel comfortable and confident.”

"I have spent all of my adult life going into store after store trying to find a pair of jeans that fit my active build,” said Allyson Thomas, 31, a former pole vaulter at the University of Maine from 2005 to 2008. “It was always such a huge let down to be strong and fit, but still feel bad about my body because I couldn't fit into any jeans.

“I'm so happy to have found a pair of jeans that fit perfectly without having to be cinched up tight with a belt,” Thomas continued. “Tenacity Jeans have definitely changed the way active women can feel about putting on a pair of pants."