Fire Hose to Luxury Bags: Elvis & Kresse are Pioneers in Ethical Leather-Making

Elvis & Kresse to the Rescue

While most companies look at how much they can produce to outdo their competitors, leaving extreme consequences of over-production and material overload in their wake, two people chose the opposite. Choosing instead to solve global waste problems over profit. These two heroes are James Henrit, also known as Elvis, and his partner Kresse Wesling.

Responding to a Question Nobody Thought to Ask

Tell us if you’ve heard this before, “a luxury fashion brand created to reduce the amount of waste destroying our world”. Just in case you aren’t aware that such a boutique exists, it’s because there’s just one that can be associated with such goals, and its name is Elvis & Kresse - pioneers of British sustainable luxury. Yes, our thoughts exactly. In a day and age when all that matters is profit and filling marketing needs, constantly focusing on the needs and wants of the consumers and how it can be met, who actually stopped to consider the negative environmental impact it would have? We now live in a throw-away culture. We humans make, cut, and throw away what we deem we don’t need. We are a society of consumerism, that’s sadly the summary of our current production process. Elvis and Kresse are trying to change this. By promoting a “Think Twice, Buy Once” state of mind. Where raw materials are given higher value and not discarded.

Through Fire, a Hero is Born

It all started in 2005 when Kresse had a fluke opportunity to see what happens to decommissioned fire hoses in her meeting with the London Fire Brigade. Standing over the old fire-hoses she described the material as being too beautiful and valiant to be sent to landfill. It still had so much to give. In an emotional response to this, these inseparable life-partners mounted a rescue mission that has now lasted for more than 13 years and still counting. Today, the result of that quest is that these seemingly disposable and neglected “wastes” are now being transformed into a broad range of sustainable luxury products and accessories, with the likes of Cameron Diaz featuring their pieces in Vogue. This heroic material once used to save lives is kept from landfill and gets a second chance to keep giving back.

Not Just Luxury but Also Charity

It may come as a surprise to most, but 50% of Elvis & Kresse’s profits are donated to charity. Something they have been doing since 2006 and are now officially the longest standing donor to The Fire Fighters Charity. That’s right. Half the profits from every men’s bag, wallet, laptop case, and belt to every women’s purse, a stylish belt, and gorgeous leather handbag, to even the smaller pieces like keyrings are donated to charity. A decision Elvis & Kresse say was one of the best decision they could ever have made.

Two Heads are Better than One

Elvis & Kresse’s initial goal to save all of London’s fire hose from the landfill was a noble one and by 2010 that goal was met. They knew it was time to look for another material to save. This time it was leather. Therefore in 2017, the Burberry Foundation entered the picture by joining in on the fight. Not as a rescuer but as a partner, a partnership that will last for a minimum of 5 years.

The Burberry Foundation was established in 2008 as a standalone charity body in the UK by the Burberry Group. This Foundation is there to push every positive change going on in the community as it drives for a future that’s well-grounded in consistent innovation. Also, the Institution diverts most of its grants into waste reduction and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and maths) promotion as it also tackles the inequality in education and so much more. Elvis & Kresse couldn’t have asked for a better partner to help tackle the immense global leather waste issue. The dreams and goals align and synch perfectly with that of the Burberry Foundation.

The Need for a Brave Partner

Last year Elvis & Kresse took a step further in their new mission to save leather waste. Every year more than 725,000,000 kilograms of leather off-cuts are generated by leading leather industries. Having successfully solved the fire-hose waste problem already in 2010 with none going to landfill anymore, they knew it was time to take on a bigger challenge. A challenge they knew they would need a brave partner to help them with. Enter the Burberry Foundation.

The newest luxury collection from Elvis & Kresse is aptly called Fire & Hide. It combines their signature decommissioned fire-hose with the off-cut leather from the production of Burberry leather goods. Their aim with the Burberry Foundation partnership is to rescue at least 108,000,000 kilograms of leather waste produced from the production of Burberry leather goods from going to landfill or incineration. 50% of the profits from their new collection is also donated to charity and renewable energy. This means half of every purchase you make goes into giving back to society and helping our environment be cleaner and safer for all. Whether we like it or not, every purchase decision we make is a vote for what kind of world we want to live in. It’s not hard to see why this company has grown from strength to strength and why purchasing their items is a vote for good, a vote for a better world.

Where We Come In

Here at ILoveBargain Hong Kong, we work tirelessly to improve your overall shopping experience by pointing you in the right direction where your needs can be met qualitatively. We also help by collecting every deal for every store, placing them all on a single webpage per e-shop, and Elvis & Kresse is no exception. In other words, you can save exclusively with our Elvis & Kresse offer. Today you save with exclusive Elvis & Kresse discount code £25 when your purchase is over £250 (simply by applying ELVISHK), plus now you know that half of the profits from your purchase is also going to charity. This is a company not just selling gorgeous handcrafted luxury items, but making a positive difference in the world in the process.