Video: Audrey Kitching Celebrates a Wool-Free Winter with Vaute Couture

Kitching’s New peta2 Video Features Hottest Vegan Winter Wear, Plus Interview With Designer Leanne Mai-Ly Hilgart

For Immediate Release:
December 18, 2014

Contact:
Alexis Sadoti 202-483-7382

Stylish wool-free hats, warm and insulated vegan dress coats, animal rights T-shirts—you can find them all at Vaute Couture, the brainchild of Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart, designer of the first all-vegan line to debut at New York Fashion Week. And in a new video for peta2, PETA’s youth division, model and fashion blogger Audrey Kitching explores how Vaute Couture’s designs make it easier than ever to have a #WoolFreeWinter—the name of peta2’s winter shopping campaign.

In the video, Kitching admires Hilgart’s leather-free moto jackets and wool-free winter coats and asks her about her inspiration for starting a vegan fashion line. “With wool, most people don’t realize it’s factory-farmed, and also all the sheep are sent to slaughter after,” Hilgart says. That’s why she uses high-tech, eco-friendly fabrics—created from recycled plastic bottles and recycled fiber satin—to create windproof, insulated, and stylish winter wear.

“From popular retailers including Forever 21 and H&M to designer boutiques like MooShoes and Vaute Couture, today’s stores are packed with wool-free clothing and accessories for every style and budget,” says peta2 Director of Youth Outreach and Campaigns Marta Holmberg. “As Audrey Kitching’s peta2 video shows, it’s easier than ever to find sweaters, coats, and scarves that are as warm and chic as they are kind to sheep.”

Hilgart—who was named the Most Influential Designer in PETA’s Vegan Fashion Awards—is also the creator of a special-edition “I Am an Animal” T-shirt, made in honor of PETA and its president and co-founder, Ingrid Newkirk, and named after the HBO documentary of the same name about Newkirk’s work. New York shoppers can find Hilgart’s designs at the Vaute Couture holiday pop-up shop in Soho at 311 W. Broadway, from December 17 through 29.

Kitching is part of a long list of celebrities—including Megan Massacre, Noah Cyrus, Daniella Monet, P!nk, Olivia Munn, and Lea Michele—who have teamed up with peta2 to promote the group’s livesaving work for animals.

For more information, please visit peta2.com or click here.