Lauren Choi's The New Norm Innovates Sustainable Textiles Using Upcycled Plastics
Lauren Choi, a Johns Hopkins University engineering graduate, founded The New Norm in 2019 to transform post-consumer plastics into textiles. The company's journey began with an extruder designed to convert thousands of red Solo cups collected from campus fraternities into filament.
In late 2023, The New Norm launched its first direct-to-consumer collection featuring sweaters and beanies made from 5,000 upcycled party cups. This collection sold out within two months. The development of a wearable textile formula was achieved through collaborations with Gaston College's Textile Technology Center near Charlotte, NC, and the Polymers Center in North Carolina. Financial support came from grants by Johns Hopkins, Garnier, Reynolds Consumer Products, and Hefty's parent company.
Production of yarn takes place in North Carolina and Virginia, after which it is shipped to Brooklyn where garments are manufactured using 3D knitting technology. Priced between $45 and $85, these garments benefit from 3D knitting’s reduced waste compared to traditional cut-and-sew methods. Additionally, the company uses colors inherent to the recycled cups and produces continuous filament yarns that help minimize microplastic shedding.
The New Norm operates with a lean team, ranging from three to twenty-five employees. Choi, currently pursuing an MBA at MIT after moving to Boston, aims to scale the business through business-to-business pilots with large brands.
The global sustainable textile market, valued at approximately $29.5 billion in 2024, is projected to grow to $71 billion by 2031. This comes amid a global plastic crisis where production has surged about 200-fold since 1950, yet less than 10% of plastic is recycled. Approximately 8 billion tons of plastic pollution exist worldwide, and three chemicals linked to plastic production contribute about $1.5 trillion annually in health costs.
