About Us

Since 2005 we have been putting the planet first.

It isn't a part of what we do, it is our whole reason for being.

See the Elvis & Kresse HQ, where we Rescue our materials and transform into beautiful lifestyle accessories

Our Sustainable Journey

We didn't start a company, we started saving fire-hose from landfill.

We fell in love with Duraline fire-hoses the moment we saw them in 2005, piled up on a rooftop at a fire station in Croydon, awaiting an imminent and undignified death in landfill.

Fire-hoses are decommissioned for one of two reasons, they either reach the 25-year end of their health and safety life or they are too damaged to repair. They either miraculously survive 25 years of active service, or they die trying.

We weren’t entrepreneurs in search of an idea, we didn’t set out to make luxury accessories. We simply wanted to save the hose. We couldn’t let these rich, durable, life-saving, lustrous coils of deep red nitrile rubber go.

We started with a simple range of belts and slowly grew from there. Since 2005 we have rescued all of London’s decommissioned hoses and donated 50% of the profits to the Fire Fighters Charity. These hoses are still working hard, long after their first life; imagine that, hoses that were supposed to die in landfill are helping injured firefighters.

The three pillars of Elvis & Kresse

RESCUE

We rescue our raw materials

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The three pillars of Elvis & Kresse

TRANSFORM

Transform them into luxury accessories

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The three pillars of Elvis & Kresse

DONATE

and Donate 50% of our profits to charity

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We don’t talk Regenerative, we Do Regenerative

What does regenerative mean? Well, there is no single definition, but for us it means doing more. In practical terms it means that you give more than you take: you sequester more carbon than you emit, you generate more (renewable) energy than you consume, you treat more water than you use, you foster more biodiversity than you corrupt and you create more than you destroy. You have to solve more problems than you cause too... and all of this 'more'? It has to be substantially more.

In 2021 we moved everything to a farm. Why? To operate regeneratively; to redesign our business ensuring that it gives exponentially more than it takes with respect to water, energy, biodiversity, carbon and community. Starting in 2015 (our tenth year in business), despite being very proud of what we do, we knew that how we do it could get much better. We researched, mapped, included a lot of wonderful ideas, then excluded and rejected what we thought was not essential and came up with a plan. That plan required a farm, which took over a year and a half to secure. You can read more about our regenerative vision and progress in these posts:

We are not a 'Maison', we are a FARM. - Elvis & Kresse

Elvis & Kresse's Vision for 2020, in WIRED Magazine - December 2019

Before

OUR REGENERATIVE JOURNEY CONTINUES!

Our Story Over The Years

2005

Early Days

Kresse discovers London's damaged, decommissioned fire-hoses, mounts a rescue, and the social enterprise journey begins.

2007

Our First Donation

We make our first donation to the Fire Fighters Charity, our Slider Belt takes London's Live Earth Concert by storm, and we relocate to Bournemouth.

2007

Social Enterprise

The British Cabinet Office appoints Kresse an Ambassador for Social Enterprise and Elvis & Kresse is certified as a Social Enterprise

2008

Our First Tote

After three years of research, design, and improving our craftsmanship we launched our Tote. We launched 4 pieces in total, including a saddle bag, washbag and cardholder. They are all still in our permanent collection.

2009

Vogue

We appear in Vogue Magazine, start regular collections of failed parachute panels, start making our own packaging and designing for Apple.

2010

Our fire-hose Victory, and a new Challenge

We reach a point where we can divert all of London Fire Brigade's hose from landfill... We turn our attention to the World's waste leather problem!

2011

Award winning - Cartier

Kresse wins the Cartier Women's Initiative Award after an intense week of judging in Paris.

2012

The Future of Luxury

We are recognised by Walpole, the official sector body for British luxury, as 'the future of luxury', and Kresse is named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Foundation

2013

Meeting The Queen, Moving to Kent

We move to Tonge Mill in Kent (and begin an epic restoration), Kresse is awarded an MBE and meets The Queen, and we switch to 100% renewable energy.

2015

B Corp

We become one of the first certified B Corps in the UK, and are part of a small group of founding B Corps.

2016

Introducing our Leather System

We launch our first Fire & Hide pieces, combining the system we designed to rescue leather with our signature fire-hose.

2017

Burberry

We launch our partnership with the Burberry Foundation to scale our solution for leather

2018

Barefoot College International

50% of our leather profits start making their way to Barefoot College International. We fund our first three scholarships to train women with no previous access to education as solar engineers.

2020

The V&A

The Victoria & Albert Museum purchases one of our Weekend Bags for its permanent collection and includes us in an exhibition that explores the history of the 'bag', Bags: Inside Out.

2021

New Barns Farm

Having purchased New Barns Farm in December 2020 we are finally able to move in April 2021. We began mapping a Regenerative Journey in 2015 and finally begin to put our plans into action.

2021

Commander Kresse

Kresse is awarded a CBE in the Birthday Honours List 'For Services to Sustainable Business'.

2023

Planting Vines

We begin the mammoth task of establishing a vineyard at New Barns Farm, the work starts with digging just under 12,000 holes and hand planting each vine.

2022

Completing our Workshop

We finally move in to the beautiful straw bale workshop, the new HQ we constructed at New Barns Farm. This building is a carbon lock (local, grown raw materials make up the bulk of the building) and designed to reduce energy consumption.

Demystifying Sustainability: Our Definitions for various Eco Terminology

Sustainable: Now this is perhaps the most overused. But it is really important. We think the best way to understand it is by understanding its opposite (see below). To be sustainable means that it has to be able to keep going, for the long term, and it must be defensible. The sun is sustainable (it is set to burn out in 5 billion years but that is pretty long term). Our use of fossil fuels, to the detriment of future generations, is not.

Unsustainable: Perhaps one of my favourite definitions, and the best way to understand sustainability is often through its inverse. Unable to be maintained in the long term or indefensible*. We love that last word, indefensible. Most people know when something is wrong and yet the bulk of economic activity is based on extraction and exploitation, which is unsustainable. This is the challenge of our time, revolutionising the economy. The economy makes money and creates jobs, but largely by putting future generations at risk. Elvis & Kresse is in many ways a living experiment; it is how we are trying to circle this square, or solve this problem.

Lets Make this Easy: Kresse's shorthand for Sustainable is the phrase above.... if you are making the world better for other people's grandchildren then you are on the right track. If you aren't, then it is time to stop, time to change.

Keen to see how we demystify a lot of other eco terminology? Head to our Definitions!

Things we do that we don't really talk about!

We are so focused on our core values, that we often overlook the things that we have embedded at Elvis & Kresse without really celebrating them.

We are vertically integrated, we make our own products.
Vertical integration is how we ensure that Living Wages are paid, as a minimum, on the production of all our pieces.
We are part of the circular economy, we design for longevity, for repair, for deconstruction.
We make our own leaflets and packaging from tea sack waste - yes, we make our own....
Vegan - our fire-hose range is entirely vegan.
We offer repairs, at cost, for life
Our packaging is plastic free
We have a lot going on at our HQ: we host film nights, volunteer opportunities, board meetings, inspirational away days. Have an idea? Just ask.
We built our HQ from straw bales, and it has helped us reduce our power consumption by 94.7%!
We generate our own renewable energy.
We treat all our own sewage and waste water in a completely natural system that we established in 2021.
We grow harvestable weaving willow on our wetland, and crop this annually or every two years.
We are sequestering our own carbon - through our soil first farming. We have more than doubled our soil carbon since 2021.
Our workshop is surrounded by a chemical free, regenerative vineyard that we planted in 2021.
We eat our own apples, plums, cobnuts, figs, raspberries and forage through the spring and summer.
How? We have planted more than just vines, we planted more than 4000 trees and all kinds of companion, symbiotic and biodiverse crops.
We don't think bags or belts are seasonal - the 'drops', the weekly collections? They fuel overconsumption and anxiety.
We don't do seasonal collections or trends, we focus on classic, utilitarian, perennial design.
We don't participate in Black Friday.
We run a transparent, open workshop. We don't have secrets.
One of our iconic pieces, The Weekend Bag, is in the permanent collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum.
We have offered more than 35 work experience opportunities and 132 apprenticeships.
We are educators, we lecture regularly at several universities and schools.
We have a hyperactive R&D program. We are constantly working on novel projects to solve waste problems or maximise the value of waste.
Through our donations to Barefoot we have created scholarships for 32 women to train as solar engineers.
We are fostering biodiversity. We largely built our ponds and wetlands to create abundant ecosystems, hence our newt count. But we are also creating a bird friendly farm, find our first bird survey here!
We share all our farm data with our farming community, to spread everything we have tried regarding regenerative agriculture.

If you really want to learn all about us, you will need to come to the farm. We have all kinds of workshops, tours, and experiences. Sign-up here!

Social Enterprise

Social enterprises are special, there are two key ingredients that make them so.

1. They expressly exist to solve either social or environmental problems AND

2. They redistribute 50% or more of their proceeds to the wider community. They are inherently good, and inherently unselfish.

Learn more about our 20 years as a leading UK Social Enterprise!

Social Enterprise

We were one of the founding B Corps in the UK, one of the first few businesses that wanted to help launch and be part of a wider movement to use Business as a Force for Good.

We also make all of the plaques to welcome new BCorps to the family!

Learn more about our B Corp journey here.

Living Wage

We are a certified Living Wage employer, and not just in the head office. We make all our own products across two sites and ensure Living Wages for everyone.

If your colleagues are alive, then they deserve a Living Wage!

Learn More about our commitment to Living Wages and why this means all our pieces are Statement Pieces that really say something about your values, and your vision of the future.

Cartier

Cartier has been running this incredible competition for businesses that are focussed on Social and Environmental Impact since 2007. Kresse won in 2011.

In 2025, Kresse was honoured again when Cartier hosted an Impact Awards edition, recognizing the extraordinary impact achieved by nine former winners aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Chosen through a rigorous evaluation and jury process, the nine awardees embody the spirit of visionary leadership and scalable innovation.

Queen's Award

The Queen's Award for Sustainable Development is awarded for commercially successful products, services and management that benefit the environment, society and the economy.

We received this award in 2022 and were given one of the last award proclamations to ever be signed by the late Queen, Elizabeth II.

Learn more.

Future Icon

The Country & Town House (C&TH) Future Icons Awards, part of their "Journey to Zero" initiative,recognize businesses and individuals for their outstanding contributions to sustainability and environmental responsibility.These awards celebrate those who are innovating and setting new standards in areas like sustainable fashion, beauty, and hospitality.The awards are designed to not only highlight these achievements but also to foster a community of like-minded individuals and businesses to further promote sustainable practices.

Walpole

Founded in 1992 as a not-for-profit organisation, Walpole is the official sector body for UK luxury.

Walpole’s flagship development programme, Brands of Tomorrow, has been a key pillar of their work to drive growth of the British luxury sector. Each year Walpole selects a small cohort of early-stage, high-end brands to participate in a trusted programme of mentoring and masterclasses, immersing their founders in the support, help and advice of their fellow Walpole members; investing the time and talents of established British luxury brands into nurturing the potential of new ones.