How Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart Started Vaute Couture
I’m so thrilled to introduce our first guest blog by Vaute Couture founder Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart. She has an inspiring story, and she’s so warm and wonderful and cute! Just like her coats!
Anywho, here is Leanne’s first blog:
Hiii!!! Ohmygosh, I can’t tell you how excited I am to meet you guys (web-meet that is!) I’m Leanne (Mai-ly Hilgart), and this was me when I was ten... at the time everyone in my class was obsessed with Limited Too & TRL countdowns (maybe they still are? I have no idea, I have no TV inBrooklyn!) but all I could think about was animal rights and making stuff.
I was obsessed with my Easy Bake oven and making my own clay necklace beads from dough I made in the kitchen, was constantly researching new ways to hand make statement tee shirts with puffy paint and stamps I hand carved from potatoes (you know the kind), and most of all, was all about rebranding everything I owned (ahem, like my Trapper Keeper) with AR slogans, dogs, cats, and my very own “logo” of a paw print with my initials in it and the year written across the paw tips. I also cut my own hair (1 inch of uneven bangs, thankyouverymuch!) & dressed myself (off the shoulder unicorn tees, 80’s dresses) in a way that meant very quickly I had cleared the Uncool List. One boy told me that he couldn’t imagine anyone ever liking me, not “like that.” No one could understand why I cared so much about animals and so little about, well, what everyone else cared about.
More than my look, though, was what I cared (and didn’t care) about. I didn’t like the mass-made stuff in the mall; I liked creating stuff. But mostly, I couldn’t stand seeing others treated unfairly and I was very curious how things were made and where they came from. I had a voice inside me that wouldn’t shut up, as much as my 10-year-old self wished it would. When my sixth grade teacher asked me to pick my social studies fair topic to be about something I really cared about, I picked Factory Farming, Vivisection, and the Fur industry. I didn’t know what we were doing to animals exactly, but I knew whatever it was we weren’t talking about it, and I had to get to the bottom of it. Soon, Peter Singer instead of YM became my new favorite read.
Before starting my research, I titled my project “Being Cruel Isn’t Cool” and that title soon became my first published tee shirt slogan, sold by a company then called Wild Wear, and I was paid in, well, tee shirts. Fast forward through junior high, high school (I waged a campaign against my high school to offer dissection alternatives and we won—that year a bill became law in Illinois requiring it), to college where I ran an animal rights organization on campus and later was discovered by a Ford Modeling Agency scout in a summer for fun acting class.
Long story short, I had no idea what I was going to do with my life... I felt terribly, utterly, lost. Could I be an activist for a living? How could I help others see how easy it was to care, to be vegan? I had to figure out where I could put my time into making a difference where it was needed most. On a very lonely modeling contract in Taipei, I had read in the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success that this junction of who you are and what the world needs was Dharma, a place of abundance. Doing marketing for then start-up Sittercity.com I realized that business could be an incredible venue for activism IF you purposefully developed each part of the process to create good in itself.
Check out these kind swimsuits perfect for every body type!
While in Hong Kong on a modeling contract a couple summers later, I thought again about my frustration every winter with not being able to find a winter dress coat that was at once vegan and actually warm enough for a Chicago winter. I had no idea anyone else wanted one or would pay for one, but I did realize that if I could reinvent the dress coat to be at once vegan, and as protective (or more) than a conventional wool coat, then it would be something that would show the world we didn’t need to wear animals to stay warm. And so, I quit my modeling contract with Ford, and my MBA, and started on 80-hour weeks of fabric research in the fall of 2008 to develop this coat... I did it without any formal background in fashion or any experience in apparel manufacturing, with the sheep in my heart. One of my favorite poems is the E.E. Cummings one: “I carry your heart, I carry it in my heart” because that’s where I keep the animals, always.
Thank you, Leanne! Do you have more questions about how to get a vegan business off the ground? Leave them in the comments below!
14 comments
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Hi Leanne! it's great to find you here too!!
thanks for all the reading recommendations... you and VC are so wonderful that it's easy to think only about love and cuteness and forgot there's also business! the best way of business of doing business of course!
hugs and kisses!
Evelina -
PS- @Marko (silly me, I realize now that you have vegan friends already! :) But if you are looking to meet more, I can let you know where I've found them most easily:))
warmest, Leanne -
@Marko, that means so much to me, you have no idea! I wanted to tell you also- that the thing about growing and gaining awareness is that even though others you've known may not understand you right now (and it's important to develop patient & compassionate connections with those you love), if you look around, you will slowly begin to make new friends who are excited to make a difference for the animals too... and there's a special brand of friendship that I've found with my friends who have stuck up for others even when it wasn't easy, who shun norms and put themselves out there to make a difference. Then you can come back to your loved ones knowing they will grow in their own time and that you love them just the same, while enjoying new friendships with those that are ready to make a difference for animals now. If you need help finding local meetups or groups, just let me know. Your offer to send me a pendant you've made touches my heart! I would absolutely love that and cherish it. Our store address is in Brooklyn- it's Vaute Couture Attn: Leanne 234A Grand Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211. Looking forward to it.
Thanks so much Marko, hang in there! It'll get better I promise :) -
Leanne, thanks for writing me so promptly. You have really filled my heart with hope and happiness. I will take your good advise and try being a little more commpassionate and understanding toward others. And try to connect in a more positive way. Your a very understanding and commpassionate person. The world needs more people like you. I hope my grandchildren will grow to be like you. Thank you for helping me, and others, of course. I am going to print your letter and frame it for my studio. I would like to send you a gift, if I may. I am a ceramic artist and I have a pendant I have been working on that I want to give to my Vegan/Vegetarian friends. I could send it to your office if you like. Blessing from a lonely grandpa. I could send my email address, if you need privacy. -
Hi @Marko!
Listen, I'm so so glad you're speaking up for animals and I know how hard that must be to start doing later in life-- when everyone must be shocked to see you acting differently and speaking differently and they feel like they don't know you anymore... I'm sure that has been really rough and I really commend you for staying strong for the animals!
Firstly- I have to tell you that yes- I lost all of my friends when I got into animal rights. When at 10 years old, I did my research on factory farming and went veg and started campaigns and all of that, I went from being the most popular girl in my class to being the least. No one understood me and everyone thought I was terribly strange all of a sudden. It hurt so so much and I was terribly lonely.
But the thing is- like you, once I knew the truth I couldn't say no, I had to listen to my heart and my heart said to speak up for those who couldn't! I ended up realizing that there are many ways to speak up for animals, and one I found most effective in communities where veganism isn't so popular (like the Midwest, where I'm from) is to focus on leading by example. I don't talk about veganism all the time or tell other people about where their food comes from. People will only listen when they are ready to listen. So I give what I know they can swallow while still feeling connected with me. I realized that everyone has their own path and timing... and I do what I can for the animals elsewhere (volunteering at the shelter, giving out vegan food to try at meatouts) and then make delicious vegan food for family and friends.
I once had an interview with a big magazine where the interviewer wore fur, and she was so terribly embarrassed when she realized how seriously opposed to fur I am. I made sure to not make her feel ashamed anymore than she already did, and instead connected with her on a personal level (where we're from, our families, etc) so that she might realize that I'm a normal person she might like otherwise, and that she probably wouldn't want to offend other people in the future and will think twice before wearing fur again. The best advocacy for animals is to connect first with others and then to show them by example how wonderful it is to live compassionately. Typically when people get very angry with you it's because they are only afraid of what you think of them since they still eat/wear animals, even if you haven't said that to them directly. So it's crucial to be patient & forgiving.
But that being said- it is totally normal for anyone making major life changes as you and I did to encounter people (like I did in 5th grade), who just don't get it, and in turn, think they don't get you. Hang in there. If you're looking for new friends, join vegan meet-ups in your area, volunteer at the animal shelter, etc. and you'll find others who care about animals as much as you do...
Of course, your grandchildren and children are irreplaceable in your life and I can only imagine how much that hurts... I'm so so sorry that has happened. I wonder if you can redirect your energy for the animals to let your children know how much you love them and how much you don't judge them to change now, this second, that maybe that might help soften things up a bit slowly... they likely just feel like you are judging them (even if you aren't) and as long as you let them know you don't, and understand everyone grows in their own time, this might help... I'm sure they miss you deep down.
I'm just speaking from my own experiences so none of this may help but I hope a bit of it might give you a tiny bit of comfort...
xoxo Leanne -
Ohmygosh you guys are sooo sweet! Thank you for the love! Let me see if I can answer these questions...
I'll start with Rebecca!
Hi sweetheart! okay, so I recently heard someone who has spent most of his life getting funding for projects say something like: "If you can't figure out how to do it without funding, it's not worth doing with funding." I started the label in the bottom of the recession, and initially planned to fund production through wholesale orders but at the time, I was too late, and too new with a product line no one understood or wanted to take a chance on. So instead, people asked if they could preorder their coat. When I realized preorders could fund production, it was a perfect solution! It's not a solution for everyone- the idea isn't to always fund via preorders (it won't work for many projects), the idea is to take out the limits you've created in your mind for starting a business and think of a better way. Look at the world and make opportunities from what resources you do have- listen closely, because opportunities are always there, ones that are there just for you and your path. There really is no reason to need a certain amount of capital to start anything- bootstrapping is the art of creating start-up capital from nearly nothing and then making more what what you create from that... it actually creates a stronger leaner business model because you don't have money to burn through.
For general start-up advice, I'd read books from Guy Kawasaki (the Art of the Start), as well as Steven Pressfield's the War of Art is my favorite ever. I read a ton of Seth Godin and love his blog immensely. Also really enjoyed reading "Business as Unusual" by Anita Roddick.
And for those of you looking to figure out your own path- Finding Your North Star & Steering By Starlight by Martha Beck have helped me immensely... it's not for entrepreneurs, but for all paths.
hope that helps! xoxo Leanne -
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Is there a link to Leanne's designs/company? I don't see one & the bathing suit link goes to someone else's designs, not Leanne's. I would love to see her stuff. Thanks!
Also, Leanne, you rock! -
Thank you, Leanne! I am glad for you. You got started early in life and help give animals a voice. I started late in life, but I can never look back, even though my kids think i'm crazy. I don't know when I'll ever see my grandchildren. I lost a few friends that just don't like calling or being around me because of my love and respect of animals. But, I hope someday they will all see truth and give up eating animals. It really saddens me that my own children see killing and eating animals is more important than me. Did anything like this happen to you? I hope not. Anyway, I think your a wonderful person and today's children should look up to you. Blessing.
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Besides having an idea...how do you get a start up business going? How much capital do you need to get something started?
Thanks so much for your passion it is great to see. -
I wish everyone had this level of creativity and imagination. The world is ready for people who can move forward with good ideas.
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