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 Alicia Silverstone, Miley Cyrus, Moby, Stacy London, Evanna Lynch (Harry Potter), Anna Paquin, Liam Hemsworth, Daniella Monet, Angela Kinsey, Emily and Zoey Deschanel, and more.

The Lincoln coat was built very specifically because high-tech winter outerwear on the market didn’t seem to be designed cozy or flattering for women’s bodies, and animal-free materials that were beautiful weren’t very warm or protective. So I created the Lincoln coat to be warm enough for Chicago winters, wind-proof, rain and snow resistant, insulated using high-tech 100% recycled fibers, cut and sewn locally in the NYC Garment District, so there’s no need to wear animals to stay warm in below freezing weather.

Our textiles were custom with limited run colors. In 2019 I did a run of Lincolns in every last bit of leftover fabric from previous collections — resulting in one of my dreams coming true: a rainbow of color options some colors in as few as 7.

This Lincoln coat collage was created in collaboration with photographer Anthony TwoMoons, model Karolina Wallace, and artist Dylan Garrett Smith, inspired by stills from a horror film.

• Down-free technical outerwear
• Wool-free outerwear
• Waxed canvas outerwear
• Red carpet gowns
• Swimwear
• Knitwear
• Ready-to-wear
• Accessories
• Graphic apparel
• Jewelry
• Wedding gowns

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.