Kresse Wesling CBE

Catch Kresse on Do Radio: on It’s Not About Trees with John Lunn 13th July - 19th July 2026.

Kresse Wesling CBE is an environmental entrepreneur, regenerative farmer and co-founder of Elvis & Kresse, one of the world’s pioneering circular economy businesses. Founded in 2005 with her partner Elvis, the company transforms waste materials—including decommissioned fire hoses, leather offcuts and parachute silk—into luxury products, while donating 50% of profits to charitable causes.

Born and raised in Canada, Kresse developed an early connection to nature through time spent camping and exploring the outdoors. Later experiences in Hong Kong exposed her to the environmental consequences of rapid industrialisation, inspiring a career dedicated to solving waste and sustainability challenges.

Over the past two decades, Kresse has become a leading voice in the circular economy and sustainable business movement. Her work has earned numerous accolades, including a CBE for services to sustainability and recognition as a champion of regenerative and responsible enterprise.

Today, alongside Elvis, she also stewards Paradise Farm in Kent, where regenerative agriculture, biodiversity restoration and low-impact infrastructure demonstrate how business and farming can work in harmony with nature. Her guiding principle, inherited from her grandmother, remains simple: “If you’re capable, you’re responsible.”

DO Radio Show Notes

In this episode of It’s Not About Trees, John Lunn speaks with entrepreneur, environmentalist and regenerative farmer Kresse Wesling CBE, co-founder of Elvis & Kresse, about business as a force for restoration rather than extraction. The conversation spans circular economy, regenerative agriculture, political leadership and the role of optimism in driving change.

Kresse shares her journey from growing up in the wilderness of Canada to witnessing environmental degradation first-hand in Hong Kong. Those experiences shaped a lifelong determination to tackle waste and build businesses that improve the world rather than exploit it.

The discussion explores the origins of Elvis & Kresse, the pioneering luxury brand that rescues decommissioned fire hoses and other industrial materials from landfill, transforming them into beautifully crafted products while donating 50% of profits to charity. For Kresse, sustainability is not a marketing strategy but a series of intentional decisions made every day.

John and Kresse also reflect on the current political and environmental landscape. While acknowledging the backlash against climate action and the challenges of short-term politics, Kresse remains deeply hopeful. She argues that citizens, communities and businesses all have a role to play in shaping a more resilient future, and that meaningful change often begins with listening rather than telling.

The conversation concludes at Paradise Farm in Kent, where Kresse and her partner are putting regenerative principles into practice through vineyards, wetlands, biodiversity projects and low-impact buildings.

In this episode, we explore what it takes to build a company that refuses landfill as a default. How to design out waste rather than apologise for it. And why long-term thinking is the ultimate competitive advantage.

Find Kresse's earlier shows in the DO Radio Archive