Ninety Percent is a womenswear brand recently founded by Shafiq Hassan and Para Hamilton, based in London. The firm has landed on the fashion scene with an admirable solidarity proposal: to distribute 90% of its profits to different charitable causes, to be chosen by the buyers themselves, hence its name. The brand explains that of the 90% that is donated, 80% goes directly to the cause chosen by the customer, while 5% goes to the producer and 5% to the people who run the brand. Compared to most "charities", this is an impressive statistic. Ninety Percent has set out to change the way fashion is consumed, giving more importance to people and the product, above economic benefits. Its objective is to select the materials and take care in every detail of all the steps for the manufacture of its garments, thus offering the highest quality for affordable prices.
Fashion: the Second Most Polluting Industry As reported by Ninety Percent, this initiative aims to make consumers aware that the fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world: it ranks second only to the oil industry. This has caused a very serious impact on the environment, in addition to the terrible working conditions of thousands of people working in this sector in certain countries. To address this situation, many fashion companies are reacting with the intention of improving things, but Ninety Percent has managed to stand out by combining quality, trend and sustainability. The system they have devised for making donations is simple. When buying, each garment carries a label with a code. The customer can vote with that code on the website for the charitable cause of their choice. With each of its collections, Ninety Percent works closely with its suppliers to strive for a more sustainable fashion future. Its main sustainability goals are to work towards its objectives for respectful working environments, sustainable materials, garment longevity, transparency and traceability, animal welfare, water stewardship, emissions and CO2, and circularity.
Responsibly Sourced Materials For Ninety Percent, it’s essential that the brand exclusively uses sustainably and responsibly sourced materials. The brand believes that the fashion industry as a whole has a responsibility to be accountable for the materials it uses, in order to ensure the lowest environmental impact possible. The brand exclusively sources Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certified cotton for its yarns, so its Organic Cotton has been grown without any pesticides so it’s less harmful on your skin and on the planet. It uses TENCEL™ fibers, which are derived from renewable, sustainably harvested wood pulp which are not only long-lasting, but also compostable and biodegradable. Certified by OEKO-TEX® standards, the brand also uses SeaCell™ fibers which are made from seaweed found in the Icelandic Fjords that is washed, dried, carefully ground and incorporated into the cellulose fiber. The fibers are biodegradable and are processed in a closed-loop system that reclaims and re-uses the chemicals required, reducing the effluent of toxicity to almost zero. In addition Ninety Percent also uses natural linen as well as hemp in its collections. Hemp is very low impact, as it doesn’t normally require any pesticides or fertilizers to grow.