In a world where a slice of toast half eaten by a One Direction singer sells on eBay for £65,000 (HK$780,000), celebrity cast-offs are big business. So in 2005, Steve Bernstein, then a New York-based publisher and banker, hit upon the idea of raising money for charity by selling guitar strings once used by celebrities. Fellow New Yorker Hannah Garrison, a jeweller, suggested turning the guitar strings into bracelets, and Wear Your Music was born. The project has since attracted more than 200 stars such as Eric Clapton, John Mayer and Jason Mraz, sold about 10,000 bracelets and raised US$500,000 for charities including Unicef, Crossroads and Oxfam. Local singer-songwriters such as Eman Lam Yee-man and Ellen Joyce Loo have signed up, too, and will help to raise money for charities such as Friends of the Earth, Hong Kong Dog Rescue and Food Angel. "No one had thought of approaching the artists and saying, 'Let's sell your guitar strings and donate the money to charity'," says Bernstein, who moved to Hong Kong in 2009. "It is unique. We are the only ones who do this." Prices for the guitar-string bracelets start at HK$450, and the pieces can be personalised with charms or birth stones at an extra cost. The most expensive bracelet sold to date, at US$575, was made with one of Clapton's old guitar strings. The bracelets can be purchased at wearyourmusic.hk as well as the Clockenflap music and arts festival, which will be held from November 27 to 29 at the West Kowloon Cultural District.