The most impressive products using repurposed materials I’ve ever seen, the Elvis and Kresse Fire and Hyde Card holder provides easy to access card and cash slots in a very attractive and conversation capable offering.
(if you want to see all the features and how many cards and cash it can hold, please watch the video)
I’m excited to bring you the Fire and Hide card wallet from Elvis & Kresse. They’ve impressed me beyond any other sustainability, recycled material company I’ve seen in the past. It truly is impressive and I’m excited to take you through the wallet.
As you know, I’m a real sucker for innovative or detailed packaging that promotes the brand and this is a good example. It is a folded, single piece of reclaimed printing blanket pouch. Feels like rubber, is stretchy and flips open.
There’s a lot going going on with this wallet even though it looks simple. We’ve got this very unique exterior texture and material starting with the reclaimed leather. They make all kinds of other luxury goods from recycled materials with this one including not only reclaimed leather, but also reclaimed London Fire Brigade hose. Further on the interior of the wallet uses reclaimed parachute silk liner which pulls the design and texture together.
I placed four cards plus two slips of cash in the wallet. Minimalist carry is probably two cards, but four is reasonable. The company says it can hold up to six cards plus cash. From a quality perspective, this is where it gets really interesting, it is designed and manufactured in the United Kingdom. The exterior on this, as mentioned, is rescued leather, which comes from taking scraps of leather, the cuttings that are discarded from larger hide cuts and incorporates them into a unique design for a second life. What Elvis & Kresse has been able to do is determine how they can get small pieces to work from those scraps and then use them to essentially weave the piece into the design, whether it’s a large carpet or a small wallet, it’s fascinating and inspiring to see.
The interior is decommissioned British fire hose. It comes in red and yellow with yellow being a little more difficult to come across. Despite all of these materials, the wallet maintains a rather thin profile. It has hand painted red edges, which gives it a wonderful look, and there’s no RFID on this. Which allows for contactless payment, oyster cards, transit cards. It’s fantastic.
That’s converted out of pounds. I feel that’s reasonable and it is a card holder, so it’s not really complex. But what I do like is all the texture in this wallet, it’s so rich in variety, and the conversation around this wallet will be amazing when others see it.
The measurements are 3.74 x 2.76 x 0.4” and it weighs 20 grams. The efforts that Elvis & Kresse have engaged in has evolved to their three organizational pillars of rescue, transform, and donate. In 2005, through a chance encounter with the London Fire Brigade, they found out that all the damaged and decommissioned hoses were being sent to the landfill. Since that time they’ve been able to save over 200 tons of material. No hoses have been sent to the landfill since that time, which is impressive. And in 2017, that’s when they partnered with Burberry Foundation and discovered they could use leather scraps to take repurposing and sustainability further.
They also donate 50% of all their profits to a couple charities, which enhances their B corporation status. Their product line is not really hackish, it’s very elegant, it’s luxurious. It elevates the example of creativity and material that would otherwise be disposed of. So I am incredibly impressed. This is the most impressive recycled company and products they create that I’ve ever seen so far.
So now let’s get onto the final score. For quality, a 4, price a 3, features a 3, usability a 4, and perception a 5. That gives us a final score of 3.9 out of 5. Makes you wonder why that quality was a 4 instead of a 5. They received their higher score on perception because of recyclability and what they’re doing in reusing material, but ultimately they’re still using used materials.
Our most ambitious wallet to pursue a recycled and repurposed origin story, you will find inspiration, texture and usability in this unique wallet
