About
Empowering Indigenous Futures Through Fashion, Technology, and Storytelling.
about us
How It All Began
im·pact /ˈim-ˌpakt/ – a significant or major effect
hub /ˈhəbb/ – a center of activity, innovation, and movement
In 2011, while conducting research in the Czech Republic, I was invited to tour a remarkable space in Prague—The HUB, now known as Impact Hub. It was more than just a co-working space. It was a catalyst: a living nucleus where ideas were born, grown, and made real.
That experience left a lasting impression—one that continues to fuel my vision for IMPACT Fashion Hub (IFH): A global center of indigenous fashion, storytelling, policy reform, and systems innovation.
The fashion industry is at a reckoning point.
💥 Why IMPACT?
The COVID-19 crisis made it glaringly obvious: the industry’s commitments to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability often collapse under pressure—exposing practices built on greenwashing, not accountability. While brands celebrated “ethical” marketing, they turned their backs on the very people powering their supply chains—people earning $3 a day, sacrificing culture, health, and family for an industry that profits off their labor. The solution is impact. Real, measurable, community-rooted impact.
IFH exists to turn fashion into a force that doesn’t just “do less harm”—but restores, empowers, and transforms.
— LeeAnn Teal, Founder
🛠️ What We Do
IMPACT Fashion Hub actively empowers indigenous communities through:
We challenge colonial legacies in fashion by building ethical, regenerative, and culturally-rooted supply chains.
✨ Mission Statement
We exist to:
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🧵 Empower indigenous communities through cultural design and creative economies
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⚖️ Challenge exploitative fashion systems with ethical, land-based alternatives
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🌿 Promote sustainability rooted in ancestral wisdom and environmental harmony
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📢 Influence global policy to protect, restore, and uplift indigenous creators
We don’t just envision a better fashion industry — we design it into existence, one thread at a time.
LeeAnn Teal
Sustainable Fashion has become a Bastardized version of what it was intended to be.
- LeeAnn Teal-Rutkovsky, aka author L.A. Teal (nom de plume) Founder, President and CEO of IMPACT FASHION HUB a 501 (c) (3) ‘Gifting back to the planet ‘.
- AUTHOR: Springer Peer Review Book Co-Author: Sustainability Challenges in the Fashion Industry
- AUTHOR: Lifestyle book “Passion for a Quickie” (Focus on the importance of enjoying the little things in life).
- Professor Business/Fashion 25+ years
- Globally recognized Bespoke Sustainable Designer-Hat Maker-Milliner.
- Inspired by tenure as CEO-President Naifa Maruf Foundation and based on interviews of women globally living in the periphery of the fashion industry supply chains, Wrote & Produced Micro-Documentary, “Making the Case for A Sustainable Fashion Accelerator: IMPACTable FASHION.
- Creator of compostable-upcycled hats, eco-ethical apparel & wraps
- Successful History of converting CAD designs to .STL files Implementing 3-D printing into design.
- Successful Scoby vegan Implementation of Scoby as a leather alternative which can be grown to size, enrich the earth at end of cycle.
- Conference Papers on topics from Cotton, Fashion Slavery , Culture and Fashion, et al to Chanel & Shiaparelli.
- International Sustainable Fashion/Keynote Speaker.
- Fashion Scholar Mentor … The London College of Fashion, LIM College, NYC , Adjunct & Capstone Professor at LIM College as well as monitoring internships at La Garconne, Calvin Klein, Kenneth Kole, Balenciaga, O the Oprah Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, IDIEL Showroom, Moddern Marketing, Haute Talk, Suno-Global, KOMAR, Jimmy Choo, Barney’s, Henri Bendel, Rebecca Taylor, Miram-Salat, Nautica, John Varvatos, Ralph Lauren et al
- Guest Lecturer in Sustainable Fashion, FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology)
- Time spent learning her millinery sustainable design and production expertise in Switzerland and Italy were well spent and serves as a catalyst to her sustainable processes.
- Former Subject Matter Expert McGraw-Hill Publishing.
- Serves on many international sustainable advisory boards to include the 20013 keynote, Indira Gandhi Institute for Development Research, ISSF, Mumbai & served as contributing editor of Savitarka/NEEF (National Ecology & Environment Foundation) an environmental NGO- UN affilitate, Mumbai/ International Advisory Board for GSFW, Global Sustainable Fashion Week, supported by the National Fashion League of Hungary, Lifestyle For Food Sustainable Living Magazine et al…
- Bespoke designs photographed by Victoria Magazine, Hartford Courant, Baltimore Sun, The Capital Gazette, numerous publications, produced designs for French shops, featured on NBC, Comcast Cable, Foxwoods MGM Grand Casino, Commissioned hat exhibitions @ Ritz Carlton and prestigious Lyman Allyn Art Museum
- A-list clients include a member of the Danish Parliament, Fortune 500 CEO’s, Hollywood and Broadway actresses, National Geographic Photojournalist/Explorers such as Lynn Abercrombie.
- Former producer Lifestyle cable television show, Just Off Mainstreet highlighting organic infusion into key lifestyle moments.
- As the designer for the Off-Broadway Show, ‘Unbeatable’ she, worked with 5-time Emmy Award Costumer John Schneeman who did Meryl Streep’s wardrobe in Devil Wears Prada, and John Travolta in Hairspray to develop the wardrobe.
Our Discipline
🎯 What We Strive to Achieve
A world where fashion no longer exploits, extracts, or erases—but uplifts creators, honors cultural knowledge, and restores environmental harmony.
We envision and create templates of success that prioritize:
🤝 Dignity in labor
🌿 Sustainability rooted in land and tradition
⚖️ Equity in ownership and opportunity
🌍 Global respect for indigenous contribution
🤝 Our Team
United by purpose. Driven by equity. Rooted in community.
