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 central philosophy of Elvis & Kresse can be summarized by the company's own positioning: it aims to create products that are not only desirable for the customer, but also beneficial to the wider world. The brand describes its products as sustainable luxury and emphasizes that its accessories are made from reclaimed materials, with 50% of profits from its handcrafted collections donated to charity. The most recognizable element of Elvis & Kresse is its fire-hose collection. The story began with London's decommissioned fire hoses, which the company began rescuing in 2005 rather than allowing them to enter landfill. The hoses are collected from fire brigades and taken to the company's workshop in Kent, where they are cleaned, prepared, engineered, and transformed into bags and accessories.