Engineering Student Converts Post-Consumer Solo Cups into Sustainable Textiles with The New Norm
Lauren Choi, an engineering student at Johns Hopkins University, founded The New Norm to turn post-consumer red Solo cups into sustainable textile yarn. Starting in 2019, she built an extruder and collected thousands of cups via campus fraternities. Collaborations with Gaston College’s Textile Technology Center and the Polymers Center in North Carolina helped develop a soft, wearable yarn, supported by grant funding from Johns Hopkins, Garnier, Reynolds Consumer Products, and Hefty’s parent company.
In late 2023, The New Norm released its first direct-to-consumer collection using 5,000 upcycled cups; this initial drop sold out within two months. The yarn is produced in North Carolina and Virginia and then shipped to Brooklyn, where it is 3D knitted into sweatshirts and beanies retailing for $45 to $85. The 3D knitting process reduces waste by eliminating seams and utilizes continuous filaments, lowering the risk of microplastic shedding. The materials retain the original cup colors—pink, blue, and green—without added dyes.
Currently a lean company with 3 to 25 employees, Choi has moved to Boston to pursue an MIT MBA, aiming to scale the business through business-to-business partnerships. Pilot programs with large brands are testing yarn strength and laundering durability.
The global sustainable textile market was valued at approximately $29.5 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $71 billion by 2031. Contextually, global plastic production has grown to around 200 times that of 1950, with about 8 billion tons of plastic pollution worldwide. Over 60% of textile fibers are synthetic, and exposure to three significant plastic chemicals is linked to up to $1.5 trillion in annual health costs.
