By Melissa Reynolds

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When Leanne Mai-Ly Hilgart went looking for a coat that was warm, stylish and, most importantly, vegan to match her lifestyle, she had a hard time finding what she was looking for. Instead of giving up, though, Hilgart decided to meet this need herself.

"I always wanted a cute, vegan coat," Hilgart laughs. "I just didn't realize that anyone else would want one."

And so came the birth of Vaute Couture, www.vautecouture.com, similar to high fashion or haute couture, but with a v, for both vegan and vote. Hilgart has brought stylish, functional, vegan coats to the world, combining both her love for fashion and a passion for animal rights that she has had since an early age.

Being a vegan is something Hilgart has embraced for many years. A vegan is someone who chooses to live without using or consuming any animal product. Veganism is also an integral component of a cruelty-free lifestyle, with a basis of not causing animals any pain.

Going vegan is not only good for the body, it is also full of benefits for the environment. Veganism is the number one way to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, as the agricultural industry is the biggest contributor to global warming. To get meat to the dinner table, or animal skins to the manufacturing plant, a large amount of energy has to be used, polluting water supplies, using up vast amounts of corn and grain, and destroying large amounts of tropical rain forest.

The idea of Vaute Couture first came to Hilgart while she was modeling in Asia. She went searching for a good coat that was made ethically without hurting animals and came up empty.

"I was looking for an alternative to animal-derived products and there wasn't anything even close," Hilgart says. Because, she says that at the time she was only modeling, the lack of creativity gave her that extra push to find an outlet for it. Working on business concepts late at night, and combining a business background, fashion expertise and a love of animals, Vaute Couture was born.

Beginning with a contest with 20 finalists and over 8,000 votes, the first coat was produced in 2008 by a fair trade seamstress in Chicago. It featured fair trade bamboo and cotton velvet with a vegan satin lining.

The path to that first coat wasn't a quick one, Hilgart admits. A lot of fabric research had to be done first. Hilgart explains that she looked at many different fabrics, and faced a challenge in making winter coats that needed to be functional, while also being stylish and ethical.

"When you add warmth, you add bulk, and that may not be attractive," Hilgart explains, adding that while there are other vegan coats out there, they are not necessarily warm.

"Our product is on par with function and style with other lines, but with the ethics behind it."

While the process of finding the perfect fabric is a secret of Vaute Couture's, there are several things important to Hilgart. Fabrics should be vegan, functional, have a high durability, be pretty in texture, flattering to wear, eco-conscious, made from materials using low impact dyes, non-toxic, recycled or reclaimed materials, and be affordable.

While everything on the list would be ideal, Hilgart says she weighs each fabric and considers what can be sacrificed or gained with each choice.

"I can't make a magic fabric. It's more about finding fabrics and then looking at them on a whole as how to make the most positive impact on the industry while being right in style and function and affordability," Hilgart says.

While fabrics such as leather, fur and wool are obviously out, other fabrics can be beneficial or harmful based on their birth and death. How they are grown, produced and processed, and where they go after they are used are big factors. If cotton is used, then it should be organic as pesticides pollute the water and land.

Staying true to the animals isn't the only thing Hilgart is accomplishing with Vaute Couture. The business also pays its employees the Chicago living wage or above, supports the work of local artists, and uses only eco-conscious and fair trade materials.

With her Fall/Winter 2009 coats now available, Hilgart says she can finally relax a bit.

"When I could finally breathe was about a month ago," Hilgart says. "I wanted to know we were making something people really wanted to wear."

Moving on, Hilgart plans to continue focusing on fabric research, making hers as eco-conscious as she can.

"Every step of the process is about discovering, supporting and encouraging more ethical methods and materials that consider animals, the earth and humankind," Hilgart says.

Hilgart is proud of what she does, and hopes to push the rest of the industry towards more ethical standards for design and function.

"I aim to influence the industry as a whole to show that conscientious design can be high style and high function," Hilgart says. "I just plan to do my own thing and build a community of people who care about making the world a better place."

Vaute Couture coats will soon be making appearances in boutiques, including its own boutique in the Chicago Green Exchange, opening soon. Hilgart notes that it would be ideal to reach a mass market, with both her coats and the ethics behind it.

"A movement isn't a movement if we can't involve as many people as possible," she points out.

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