From industrial waste to high-fashion accessories, with a charitable twist

Back in 2006 we covered German Feuerwear, which creates bags and belts from used fire hose. Feuerwear is still going strong, but we couldn’t resist mentioning a similar venture we recently came across in the UK that expands the notion and adds a charitable twist. Much like Feuerwear, Elvis & Kresse crafts high-fashion bags, belts and other accessories from used fire hose collected across the UK. The company also goes beyond fire hose, however, and reclaims various types of other industrial waste materials as well, including coffee sacks, sail cloth, air traffic control flight strips, optician’s boxes, parachute silk and office furniture textiles. Fabrics including the parachute silk, for example, are used to line Elvis & Kresse’s wallets and bags; many of the other materials are used in its packaging. The company has reclaimed some 45 tons of waste materials so far, it says. Elvis & Kresse donates 50 percent of the profits from its fire-hose line to the Fire Fighters Charity. It’s also supporting two separate coffee grower initiatives in Nicaragua and Guatemala. Elvis & Kresse items are available both online and from select retailers in England, Wales, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Australia; pricing begins at GBP 18.50 for a fire hose-based key ring. What’s better than an eco-minded approach that gives consumers status stories galore plus the good karma of keeping waste out of landfills? One that also makes corporate generosity part of its daily operations. Eco-iconic, meet Generation G; live long and prosper! 😉 (Related: Recycled plastic bottles into graduation gowns — From 1950s pommel horses to 2008 gym bags — Virgin Atlantic’s seat covers, reborn as bags — Garbage into gold, now via discarded wrappers — District turns its own banners into bags.) Spotted by: Neil Infield