Lauren Choi's The New Norm Innovates Sustainable Textiles from Red Solo Cups
Lauren Choi, an engineering student at Johns Hopkins, founded The New Norm to transform plastic waste from red Solo cups into textile yarn. Starting in 2019, Choi and her team developed an extruder to spin collected plastic cups—sourced in part from campus fraternities—into textile filaments. Collaboration with Gaston College's Textile Technology Center and North Carolina's Polymers Center led to a wearable-soft yarn formula suitable for knit garments.
The New Norm released its first direct-to-consumer collection in late 2023, made from approximately 5,000 upcycled cups. The collection, featuring sweaters and beanies priced between $45 and $85, sold out within two months. The production chain involves yarn manufacturing in North Carolina and Virginia, with 3D knitting occurring in Brooklyn to produce seamless, waste-reducing garments.
Maintaining a lean team ranging from 3 to 25 employees, The New Norm is expanding beyond retail. Choi, now pursuing an MBA at MIT in Boston, has focused on piloting business-to-business yarn applications with major brands. These pilots examine the yarn's strength and laundering performance, aiming to scale production and amplify environmental benefits.
In the broader context, the global sustainable textile market was valued at $29.5 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $71 billion by 2031. This effort takes place against a backdrop of mounting plastic pollution—over 8 billion tons—with low recycling rates, while 60% of textile fibers worldwide remain synthetic. Unique to The New Norm, the cup-derived yarns retain the cups' original colors and utilize continuous filaments, which reduces microplastic shedding during use.
