Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart couldn’t find a winter jacket that was beautiful and cruelty-free. So she designed one.

In 2009, she launched Vaute Couture as a concept, with pre-orders and no physical product or investors. Her new customers supported the brand on pure faith, buying into Leanne’s story, and her vision to change the world. The demand and the hundreds of early supporters were just the validation she needed to forge ahead with production and build what she hoped would be the future of fashion.

Just seven years later, she’s trailblazer in the world of vegan apparel, manufacturing and shipping her expanding line of socially conscious and animal friendly designs worldwide. CNN called her “the rebel of NY Fashion Week” and just today, Vaute closed on an official manhattan flagship storefront.

I want to set a new standard in fashion.

I sat down with Leanne when she visited the Shopify offices in Toronto this winter. She was running a pop-up in town, while honing her Canadian distribution and setting up a new factory. Upon meeting her, you’re instantly disarmed. You can’t help but be swept up in her warmth and her drive. She’s the natural face and heart of her brand because so much of her own story is sewn into every piece. And because you want to hear her tell it.

(header photo: PETA)

The Problem

The brand was born from a simple need: warmth. Chicago winters have a way of getting under your skin, wind working its way into your sleeves and under your collar. As a native of the Windy City, Leanne takes outerwear seriously. It’s a market, however, cornered by brands that use fabrics and manufacturing practices that don’t jibe with her ideals. Silk-lined wool dress coats, and down-filled activewear jackets surely were the go-to shields against the icy gales, but what if there could be cruelty-free alternatives just as warm and beautiful?

It was a question Leanne asked herself, then answered through eight months of fabric production research. The answer was yes. And without a background in fashion or business, she became a designer and an entrepreneur.

Finding Her Voice

Leanne was advocating for animal rights before she even understood where hamburgers came from.

“When I was a kid, I wanted the school to stop dissecting cats in the anatomy class across from my locker. I went to the principal and he laughed at me. I went to the school board and they ignored me. But I showed up at the school board meeting with a three-point poster-board, and photos of what happened – how they got the cats, how they were killed – and I said, ‘Guys, this is not okay. We’re teaching disrespect for life. It is completely unnecessary.’ There was a reporter there who did a piece on it and we ended up having a lot of people call in. There was a bill going on at the time with representatives in Illinois, giving alternatives for dissection. It actually made it into law.”

The voice of an advocate, is a hard one to hone. She’s lived as a vegan since she was 10, struggling to be heard, and to formulate her messaging in a way that didn’t alienate. “No one would sit by me at lunch,” she admitted, “Everyone just thought I was the weirdest.”

No one would sit by me at lunch. Everyone just thought I was the weirdest.

When the idea for Vaute was materializing, much of the residual childhood fear of rejection still lingered. Leanne felt she had to reserve some of her views, hide the aspects of herself that she thought were too controversial. Now she’s found her people.

“When I moved to New York and I started being around people who care as much as I do, it was so liberating. I chose to be very loud about who I am and what I love. The clearer you are as an individual or as a brand, as to who you are and what matters to you, the better you are at filtering those other people out. There’s this analogy: when you’re growing, you’re in the elevator, and people get off the elevator and you’re alone for a couple floors, and then people get on the elevator. You feel that aloneness for a little bit, but it’s kind of refreshing.”

Much of the brand’s purpose, besides providing cruelty-free fashion options, is to educate. It’s a tricky balance, and Leanne has found it with love. She has partnered with organizations to help amplify their messages. She injects her purpose and cause into the label’s presence on social, but always from the angle of support and understanding.

“It’s not condescending, it’s not a judgement. It’s like a, «I forgive you. I get it”. At one point, I ate meat. I ate meat until I was 10 years old. I didn’t know, and I loved meat, and I loved animals. And whenever I post, I always come from that perspective.”

A lot of her sales and traffic come from “vegan coat” organic search, but she was determined to make a product that people just loved: win them over with beautiful coats, gently educate later. She understands that a lot of people, even her own friends, care deeply about the causes close to her heart, but just don’t know how to change.

“They say ‘It’s too much of a sacrifice, it’s too hard for me. I care about this, but I’m just not willing to go to change my style or to spend all this extra money.’ I think there are so many people in that space. We have to make it easy for them.”

The cause is woven into every part of the business, and Vaute partners with two non-profits every month. The website releases t-shirt designs specific to each organization – from animal sanctuaries to large international non-profits – donating profits back to the these partners.

Becoming an Entrepreneur

Like many people who find themselves running small businesses, Leanne didn’t set out become an entrepreneur. She was an education major, and modelled for a while with Ford Models. It’s an unlikely resume for a fashion designer and business owner, but she derives a lot of her skills from her past, and plays up her strengths.

“When starting a business, you should look at your life and ask, ‘What are the tools I’ve been given that no one else has been given, that add up basically to strategy where I win?’ I always give the analogy of Slumdog Millionaire: he knows the answers to every question not because he knows the answer to every question in the world, but because his life has set him up for those particular questions. I modeled for Ford Models, and because of that, I know how to run a casting. I know how to run a photoshoot. I went to school to be a school principal and I was an Education major, I want to educate