B Corp Conversations: Elvis & Kresse

At Maison Mirabeau, we believe that business should be a force for good. As a proud B Corp, we’re committed to balancing purpose and profit, striving to create a positive impact on the world around us. We’re excited to launch a new series featuring monthly interviews with fellow B Corp brands from various industries. Each month, we’ll explore their journeys, challenges, and innovative ways they’re making a positive impact.

This month, we are talking with Elvis & Kresse. Elvis & Kresse was founded in 2005 to rescue London’s decommissioned fire hose. We transform these life-saving hoses into beautiful bags, belts and homeware and donate 50% of the profits to the Firefighters Charity.

Jeany: You make the most amazing-looking bags and accessories.  What’s your superpower?

Kresse: It is how we make decisions… before we do anything, down to every detail, we ask ourselves “Is this going to make the world better for other peoples’ grandchildren?” If the answer is no, we don’t do it. When you make long-term, unselfish decisions, you put the planet and its people first every single time.

What was your Eureka moment that made you find your brand?

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

What was your Eureka moment that made you find your brand?

It is tough to give tips when Elvis is a true one in a million! Seriously though, you have to have a lot of trust, mutual respect and a shared commitment and mission. If that is in place it is pure heaven.

Give us your favourite item for Fall 2024?

The jeans I have been wearing for a decade paired with a 13 year old pair of wellies…

We’re a B Corp because…

It is incredibly important to work together to create change. As a growing group we can have more impact at a faster pace. Also, it is a joyful movement.  It is an optimistic, hard working movement that is happy to roll up its sleeves and muck-in, and it does this with a smile.    

If you could fix one thing on earth, what would it be?

I would have global legislation that was universally enforced and inescapable, making it illegal to profit from the exploitation of people or the degradation of the natural world.

Would love to share a glass of rosé with….

My sister, she lives in New Zealand so we don’t get to relax and chat anywhere near enough!

Name another brand you love because of their credentials…

Toast Ale, like us they are both a Social Enterprise and a B Corp and they have pioneered making beer from wasted bread! Their beer is an example of 360 degrees of excellence, particularly the Changing Tides 0.5%.