Here at Upcycle That we think firefighters are awesome! That’s why we were especially excited to learn of a company making products from upcycled fire hose.

Fire hoses have to stand up to rigorous use and testing. When they fail the testing they are decommissioned and sent to landfills. That’s where Oxgut Hose Company comes in. Rather than throwing out their decommissioned fire hose, Oxgut Hose Company creates usuable products from the salvaged fire hose. They work with fire departments to intercept the fire hose before it gets thrown away. Their goal is to become a national service, partnering with fire departments across the United States.

Oxgut Hose Company started out as a Kickstarter project. The unique name comes from the first fire hose used in ancient Greece. Founder LauraLe Wunsch was intrigued by fire hoses. She found them to be full of character, durable and worthy of a second life. In collaboration with various designers, LauraLe began experimenting with the material. Designer Ringit Gurlich suggested using the fire hoses to create mats. This was how the original Oxgut product came to be.

Although Oxgut started by making mats, the material lends itself to many other purposes. LauraLe says that the fire hose itself often inspires the design. For instance their house slippers were inspired by a type of fire hose they’d never seen before. Oxgut also makes furniture and accessories such as chairs, bags, eye glass cases and iPad covers.

We think their upcycled fire hose hammock and the lounger are incredibly cool.

According to their detailed calculations, Oxgut Hose Company have saved approximately 21,160 ft. of fire hose from landfills this year.

If you want to see more be sure to head over to Oxgut Hose Company for their complete collection of upcycled fire hose designs!