As a fitness instructor, Smith found a lack of appealing clothes in which to work and started to sew her own.
She had no formal training in garment production, but had been interested in fashion since a teenager, crocheting bikinis from age 16, customising her clothes from age 18, and from age 21 starting to design and make her own clothes.
She began by unpicking a favourite swimsuit and used it to make a pattern out of newspaper, providing the basis for her first leotard design.
Her students liked her outfits, and started requesting that Smith make clothes for them too.

At the age of 24, she returned to Brisbane and continued teaching aerobics, now to classes of hundreds of students.
She also continued sewing activewear for herself and on request.
Smith enjoyed producing activewear so much that she decided to give up instructing and make it her full-time occupation.
In 1989, the owner of the gym at which she worked offered her space for a studio above the gym, and also casual work as a receptionist if she needed extra money.
She remembers the space as squalid, full of cockroach droppings that would be dislodged by the vibrations of people jumping around in the building.
Her mother lent her money to fund increasing production, and to help her with her rent and costs of living.

Smith found that, at the time, nobody believed in her concept of stylish activewear.
As she later recalled, even major brands like Nike did not have concept stores for their clothing in those days.
When Bill Clarkson showed the products to major department store Myer, their fashion buyers were uninterested and unsure of how to position the garments.
He recalls that when he explained the clothes should not be sold in the sports section, "The buyer looked at me like I was crazy.
They had no box to put me in."
Eventually, Myer bought a small range for five of their stores and stocked it in a corner between swimwear and lingerie.
The Lorna Jane corporate website goes so far as to credit Smith with coining the word "activewear" in 1989, although the Merriam-Webster dictionary notes the word's first known usage was in 1924.
 
Deciding to retail the Lorna Jane label themselves, in 1990, Smith and Clarkson opened their first store, in an upper floor of Brisbane's Broadway on the Mall shopping centre.
Early successes confirmed for Smith the viability of her dream.
The business covered its first week of rent with its first day of sales, and in 1991, a customer bought the entire stock of the second Lorna Jane store in a single purchase of $25,000 with the intention of reselling it.
Smith and Clarkson were ecstatic at the windfall, until they realised that this meant they had no stock left.
The story of Clarkson riding back to Smith's workshop on a bicycle with $25,000 cash in a bag has become a famous anecdote about the early successes of the business.

On 11 September 1994, Smith married Clarkson.

By 2000, the business required a larger factory, and to fund this expansion, the Clarksons sold their home in the Brisbane suburb of Paddington for $450,000.
Clarkson described the house they sold as their "dream home", in which they had planned to spend the rest of their lives.
They had spent seven years renovating it, and from its back deck, they could see the church in which they had married.
The couple put the money from the sale of their home towards the purchase of a factory building in Fortitude Valley for $465,000.
They refurbished it for clothes production, and built an apartment living space above it.
When they purchased it, the building was "dirty and full of termites", but within two years, the value of their factory property had appreciated to $4 million, which the Clarksons were able to use as collateral for further growth.

In 2014, the Clarksons considered selling the business, but eventually withdrew when they considered the implications of losing their personal control of what they had built.
During a personal appearance the following year, Clarkson said that she would be "half a person without the brand", and "I just don't know what I would do with
As a fitness instructor, Smith found a lack of appealing clothes in which to work and started to sew her own. She had no formal training in garment production, but had been interested in fashion since a teenager, crocheting bikinis from age 16, customising her clothes from age 18, and from age 21 starting to design and make her own clothes. She began by unpicking a favourite swimsuit and used it to make a pattern out of newspaper, providing the basis for her first leotard design. Her students liked her outfits, and started requesting that Smith make clothes for them too.
At the age of 24, she returned to Brisbane and continued teaching aerobics, now to classes of hundreds of students. She also continued sewing activewear for herself and on request. Smith enjoyed producing activewear so much that she decided to give up instructing and make it her full-time occupation. In 1989, the owner of the gym at which she worked offered her space for a studio above the gym, and also casual work as a receptionist if she needed extra money. She remembers the space as squalid, full of cockroach droppings that would be dislodged by the vibrations of people jumping around in the building. Her mother lent her money to fund increasing production, and to help her with her rent and costs of living.
Smith found that, at the time, nobody believed in her concept of stylish activewear. As she later recalled, even major brands like Nike did not have concept stores for their clothing in those days. When Bill Clarkson showed the products to major department store Myer, their fashion buyers were uninterested and unsure of how to position the garments. He recalls that when he explained the clothes should not be sold in the sports section, "The buyer looked at me like I was crazy. They had no box to put me in." Eventually, Myer bought a small range for five of their stores and stocked it in a corner between swimwear and lingerie. The Lorna Jane corporate website goes so far as to credit Smith with coining the word "activewear" in 1989, although the Merriam-Webster dictionary notes the word's first known usage was in 1924.  
Deciding to retail the Lorna Jane label themselves, in 1990, Smith and Clarkson opened their first store, in an upper floor of Brisbane's Broadway on the Mall shopping centre. Early successes confirmed for Smith the viability of her dream. The business covered its first week of rent with its first day of sales, and in 1991, a customer bought the entire stock of the second Lorna Jane store in a single purchase of $25,000 with the intention of reselling it. Smith and Clarkson were ecstatic at the windfall, until they realised that this meant they had no stock left. The story of Clarkson riding back to Smith's workshop on a bicycle with $25,000 cash in a bag has become a famous anecdote about the early successes of the business.
On 11 September 1994, Smith married Clarkson.
By 2000, the business required a larger factory, and to fund this expansion, the Clarksons sold their home in the Brisbane suburb of Paddington for $450,000. Clarkson described the house they sold as their "dream home", in which they had planned to spend the rest of their lives. They had spent seven years renovating it, and from its back deck, they could see the church in which they had married. The couple put the money from the sale of their home towards the purchase of a factory building in Fortitude Valley for $465,000. They refurbished it for clothes production, and built an apartment living space above it. When they purchased it, the building was "dirty and full of termites", but within two years, the value of their factory property had appreciated to $4 million, which the Clarksons were able to use as collateral for further growth.
In 2014, the Clarksons considered selling the business, but eventually withdrew when they considered the implications of losing their personal control of what they had built. During a personal appearance the following year, Clarkson said that she would be "half a person without the brand", and "I just don't know what I would do with
Lorna Jane Clarkson