Elvis & Kresse have been reclaiming heroic materials ever since we fell in love with London Fire Brigade's decommissioned fire-hose. After a distinguished career fighting fires and saving lives the hoses were destined for landfill. We started rescuing it in 2005 and have never looked back.

More materials soon followed, Kresse has always had an obsession with waste and likes nothing better than discovering and intercepting something new. The challenge is the same every time - what can we do to prove value, change perception, and respect these resources. Here are some of our most cherished raw materials:

We dream of a time without landfill, when everything is reused, revalued, recycled or composted. Between now and then we know there are far too many incredible materials that will either languish underground or suffer the indignity of incineration; when that happens we lose, we lose quality, narrative, and the opportunity to do something great. So we intercede, choosing story laden materials of incredible character, and do everything we can to ensure their second life is as long as possible.

In 2017 we partnered with the Burberry Foundation to solve our most ambitious material challenge to date: the vast amounts of waste created through the production of leather goods. As part of a five-year partnership, Elvis & Kresse have received a grant from the Burberry Foundation to support this work. We will also transform leather off cuts from the production of Burberry products into accessories and homeware.

Half of the profits from this range have been and will continue to be donated to Barefoot College where we fund scholarships for women to train as solar engineers. will be donated to charitable causes focused on renewable energy. 

It is estimated that each year, 800,000 tonnes of leather waste is produced by the global leather industry. No matter how carefully patterns for leather goods are planned, high quality, unused, freshly tanned and dyed leather falls to the cutting room floor as seemingly unusable pieces. We have designed a system which transforms these fragments into components which are then hand woven, piece by piece, into a new kind of hide which is unrestricted by size or shape.

We are constantly searching for more materials to grow our range of bags, belts and wallets, and have rescued over 300 tonnes so far.