About the Creator - Lisa Rudes-Sandel

Lisa Rudes-Sandel has been around the denim business most of her life, but it didn't require her being a pro to spot a glaring marketplace truth: Nobody was making jeans for women, she says. There isn't an average-size, average-age woman who would not have commiserated with Rudes-Sandel. I am in pretty good shape and I couldn't wear anything out there. Everything was very young. They were either made small or were running small or they were shapeless. I didn't want to show my underwear every time I bent over. Unlike most of the unhappy female shoppers, however, Rudes-Sandel was in a position to fill the gap. She is the daughter of George Rudes, the man behind the 70s and 80s fashion-denim powerhouse Saint Germain jeans.

Rudes-Sandel, with sister Leslie, started up their own denim company in 2003, naming it Not Your Daughter's Jeans® (NYDJ for short). The sisters then pulled their father out of his Boca Raton retirement and put him to work. The first order of business was engineering a pair of jeans that would flatten a women's stomach without using any material other than denim.

Producing the Tummy Tuck Jeans was not only a model of product development but also a testament to the Rudes family devotion to high standards. I brought my father's knowledge and expertise into this, Rudes-Sandel says. She didn't want a corset, I didn't want to start inserting other materials, she explains. I am not into these tight, constricting things. The question, Rudes says, was how to maintain the integrity of the jean while making it do what we wanted it to do.

Even though I work out, I've never had a flat tummy, says Rudes-Sandel. For women who have had kids, that area is very hard to get back in shape. But you want that flat-tummy look in jeans.
Their combined genius has made Tummy Tuck the largest American manufacturer of ladies jeans in the median price bracket. Shipping over 15,000 pairs a week, the line provides jobs to approximately 200 Americans.

Rudes-Sandel is proudly Puerto Rica that is very important to me and employs a large number of Hispanic women. Thinking back on the many weekends as a child in Puerto Rico going around to various stores with her dad as he sold blouses, the fact that he made her start from the bottom, answering phones at St. Germain, Rudes-Sandel says simply, my father taught us that if you have a great fit, you will always have a customer.

Because of the success of the Misses line, Lisa branched out to offer Petites, Plus Sizes, and Petit-Plus Sizes, making them truly the jeans all women will love to wear. Although these jeans are not about a fad, but about the fit, they remain on the forefront of fashion. They are available in straight leg or with a flare, and a 9-inch front rise. Tummy Tuck™ Jeans come in three washes, Midnight, Dark and Light, as well as several colors, offering women the consistent Tummy Tuck™ design they want in a variety of options.

Lisa sends a little piece of herself with every pair of jeans she ships. Inside the jeans is a disclaimer that reads NYDJ (Not Your Daughter's Jeans) cannot be held responsible for any positive consequences due to your fabulous appearance when wearing the Tummy Tuck Jean. You can thank me later. Hundreds of women log onto the Tummy Tuck website to share their heartwarming stories with her with phrases like Don't ever stop making these jeans! Finally I feel comfortable and sexy in jeans! My husband loves walking behind me now! I can't thank you enough! appearing again and again. Their cult-like following even made Tummy Tuck the No. 1 seller on Nordstrom.com, accounting for the largest single-day sales of an item (2,000 pairs) ever in that store.

Take the Tummy Tuck™ Challenge and see for yourself.