The New Norm: Lauren Choi's Sustainable Textile Innovation from Upcycled Solo Cups
Lauren Choi, a Johns Hopkins engineering student, founded The New Norm to convert red Solo cups into textile fabric. In 2019, she led a team that built an extruder to spin plastic waste into textile filaments and collected thousands of cups through campus fraternities. Collaborations with Gaston College's Textile Technology Center near Charlotte, North Carolina, and the Polymers Center helped develop a soft, wearable textile formula from the upcycled material.
The New Norm released its first direct-to-consumer collection in late 2023, using 5,000 upcycled cups, which sold out in two months. The yarn is produced in North Carolina and Virginia, and finished garments are knit in Brooklyn using 3D knitting technology. The collection includes sweaters and beanies priced between $45 and $85.
The company operates leanly with about 3 to 25 employees. Meanwhile, Choi relocated to Boston to pursue an MBA at MIT and is working on securing pilots with large brands to scale production. Grant funding has supported the venture from Johns Hopkins University, Garnier, Reynolds Consumer Products (parent company of Hefty), and others.
The sustainable textile market was valued at $29.5 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow to $71 billion by 2031. Upcycling plastics into textiles, such as what The New Norm pursues, is seen as a key growth path within this sector. Globally, plastic production has increased about 200 times since 1950, with less than 10% recycled, resulting in some 8 billion tons of plastic pollution. Approximately 60% of textile fibers are synthetic and predominantly derived from virgin fossil fuels, underscoring the significance of innovations like The New Norm's approach.
