Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart
American Ethical Fashion Designer
Bio
Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart is an American ethical fashion designer notable for "breaking runway history" (CNN) as the first designer with an entirely vegan fashion brand at New York Fashion Week with her first brand VAUTE, also considered the "World's First Vegan Fashion House" (NYLON).
Hilgart has been named "Most Influential Designer" (PETA), “The Next Stella McCartney” (CNN) and "A Gamechanger, embodying courage, creativity, and conviction" (Condé Nast).
Hilgart is the subject of Shopify’s documentary “World’s First Vegan Fashion House,” has been asked to speak on Fashion Innovation at the United Nations, lectured at universities on topics like Impact Focused Entrepreneurship and Sustainable & Ethical Fashion Innovation including Yale and Parsons, has been selected for rising star entrepreneur cohorts including the Macy’s Workshop and Seth Godin’s Agenda, and has shown her collections on the runway in Beijing, Seoul, Paris, Toronto, and Tulum.
Her work has been featured in VOGUE, Forbes, WWD, W Magazine, Elle, Entrepreneur, and more. Her designs have been worn by Evanna Lynch, Alicia Silverstone, Miley Cyrus, Moby, Liam Hemsworth, Angela Kinsey, Emily Deschanel.
Product Design Portfolio
I designed and sold my first nationally distributed animal rights tee shirt at age 12, and for the past 15 years I’ve pioneered ethical fashion — creating collections that merge sustainability in textiles and processes, innovation in materials and structure, and a focus on creating comfort alongside aesthetics.
ETHICAL FASHION INNOVATIONS I’ve designed, developed, and produced over 15 years include red carpet vegan gowns of recycled plastic bottles pulled out of Italian rivers featured in VOGUE, vegan fisherman sweaters made of post-commercial recycled fibers as seen in Marie Claire and on Stacy London, wool-free winter coats featured by CNN and worn by Zoey Deschanel, Andy Hurley (Fall Out Boy), and Liam Hemsworth, insulated down-free outerwear covered by WWD and worn by Anna Paquin, sustainable swimwear made of recycled carpets seen in NYLON, and statement tees worn by Moby and Alicia Silverstone, with nonprofit partnerships from PETA to Mercy for Animals and Earth Day.
COLLECTIONS DESIGNED, DEVELOPED, AND PRODUCED
Using sustainable and innovative textiles and processes, and constructed with local living wage production.
Down-free technical outerwear
Wool-free outerwear
Waxed canvas outerwear
Red carpet gowns
Swimwear
Knitwear
Ready-to-wear
Accessories
Graphic apparel
Jewelry
Wedding gowns
NAMED:
”Most Influential Designer” PETA
“A Gamechanger, embodying courage, creativity, and conviction” Condé Nast
“The Rebel of Fashion Week” CNN
“Winner of the Apex in Design Award” Polartec
“A Vegan Fashion Empire” PAPER
“One of the Most Innovative Businesses in NYC” BusinessInsider
“Company of the Year” VegNews
“Best of NYC” Village Voice
“A fashion mogul, without sacrificing morals” NYLON
“1 of 40 Redefining Green” Grist.org
“Best Wool-Free Brand” Vogue UK
“Best of Grand Street” ELLE France
Ethical Fashion Entrepreneurship
Without a background in fashion or financial investment for the first six years, Hilgart built "one of the most innovative businesses in NYC,"(BusinessInsider) a multi-million dollar D2C e-commerce and brick & mortar brand she founded in 2008 that she grew for 13 years through 2020, which was profitable year one, and broke fashion history as the first vegan fashion brand in the world "paving the way for compassionate designers" (U.S. News & World Report), becoming Peta’s “Most Influential Designer” for their First American Fashion awards, creating a "Vegan Fashion Empire" (PAPER Magazine), named “Best Wool-Free Brand” by VOGUE UK, as a "Fashion Mogul Without Compromising Morals" (NYLON.)
MISSION
A lifelong activist for animals and the environment,
Hilgart built her first brand VAUTE to revolutionize the fashion industry by taking animals out of the fashion equation, while creating textile and production solutions that are more positively impactful for the environment and support meaningful work for artisans.
In 12 years of production, VAUTE:
Saved about 44,000 geese
Saved about 3,000 Sheep
Recycled approx. 265,000 plastic bottles
Diverted approx. 60,000 yards of industrial fabric
Supported hundreds of local NYC and Chicago artisans.
D2C Conscious Consumer Brand Strategist
Along with decades of consumer market expertise in the Conscious Consumer demographic, Leanne is an MBA dropout with a concentration in Brand Strategy and Entrepreneurship and when time permits, consults select mission aligned brands on brand strategy to support animal saving brands across all industries. All D2C brand clients are 100% vegan, including in beauty, food, beverage, pet products, and non-profits.
