Creative director Elliot Atkinson speaks to Mission about the brand’s unique business model.
Fashion supply chains can often be murky, as they involve many steps and even more people. From raw material suppliers, to those who turn them into textiles, to the garment manufacturing itself, many hands are involved in the making process–and that’s not even talking about the design or distribution sandwiched at either end. It’s quite rare for a fashion company to have control or oversight of most of the process. Which is why Ninety Percent is in a relatively unique position.
The clothing brand’s founders, Shafiq Hassan and Para Hamilton, have a wealth of experience in the manufacturing and sourcing side of fashion. Hassan is managing director of a factory in Bangladesh, called Echotex, which began garment manufacturing in 2008, and textile production in 2009. Reportedly, it was the first factory in Bangladesh to offer health insurance for all workers. It also pays a fair wage, and provides a free lunch every day. In 2010, it even won The National Environment Award for its effluent treatment–that is, industrial wastewater that flows into rivers. All of this puts Ninety Percent–which was founded in 2018–in a unique position to truly understand its supply chain, and the logistics of running a fair business.
“I think that’s one of our strongest unique selling points in the market, is that we can develop our own beautiful luxury fabrics.”
“The great thing we have is that we own our manufacturing. We also create most of the fabrics that we work with. So we have intense control over the composition, the sourcing, exactly which field it’s coming from, any chemicals involved…” says Elliot Atkinson, who is Ninety Percent’s new creative director, appointed last year. Often, the factory buys the yarns and weaves the fabric itself, with the goal of creating fabrics that have as low an impact as possible on the planet. “I think that’s one of our strongest unique selling points in the market, is that we can develop our own beautiful luxury fabrics.”
Atkinson’s values strongly align with those of Ninety Percent, namely his passion for sustainability. In 2016 he co-founded BITE Studios, a Swedish sustainable fashion brand, and was a creative director and designer there for 4 years. He has also lectured at universities in the U.K. for 5 years about incorporating sustainable practices in design. So it’s no surprise that he was head-hunted for the job on LinkedIn. The company’s ethos, as well as the challenge of reinvigorating an existing brand, is what attracted Atkinson.
“There’s this view in the West that people in Bangladesh are underskilled, underprivileged, underpaid, working in poor conditions,” says the creative director. It’s not unfounded: as Atkinson and I discussed, Ninety Percent and Echotex are relatively unique, as doing business fairly and ethically is not the most profitable model, which prevents many businesses from following suit. “But I think one of the great things Ninety Percent’s founders, Shafiq and Para, have achieved is reframing the conversation around that part of the world, how we treat them, how we are working with them. I’m very proud to partner with such talented craftspeople and skilled labourers.”
Why is it called Ninety Percent? At the end of every fiscal year, 90% of the distributable profits are donated and shared. 80% is split between 5 charities supported by the company, which are: Big Life, WildAid, BRAC, Children’s Hope, and War Child U.K. The other 10% is shared among people who make the collections. Most other businesses do not operate like this: profit is normally taken by shareholders, but at Ninety Percent, this figure is only 10%.
“There’s definitely a younger generation who demands change in the way we treat our ecosystem and people.”
Atkinson describes how, when he was a design student in the early ‘00s, there was not much of a conversation around sustainability. In the last 10 years, however, it is a topic that has become ever-present in the media. Despite the talk, has much changed, I ask? “I think unfortunately, there’s a huge conflict between everything that we talk about and then consumer demand,” says Atkinson. “I mean, there’s such a drive for newness on social media specifically. It’s almost like two tensions are working against each other. There’s definitely a younger generation who demands change in the way we treat our ecosystem and people. But also there’s such a drive to keep buying new things. I don’t know which one’s going to win, I don’t think they can survive together.”
