From Cup to Collection: The New Norm
Lauren Choi | The New Norm
Most of us know the saying, “When you see something, say something.” While those are likely excellent words to live by, we want to introduce you to someone who has built an entire company on the mantra: When you see something, DO something.
While Lauren Choi was in college at Johns Hopkins University, she identified a solution to a problem that littered her campus every weekend: plastic party cups. Instead of contributing to the mounting issue, Choi put her education to work and devised a genius alternative to all that senseless waste. She got to work in her garage, built her own extrusion machine, and taught herself how to take plastic party cups, that overwhelm landfills across the globe, and convert them into yarn and eventually apparel that delivers warmth, style, and comfort. Choi saw the potential to reduce a tremendous amount of waste and got to work on establishing a new normal in the fashion industry by founding The New Norm. The New Norm is Choi’s answer to a problem: A sustainable fashion brand that not only benefits the environment but also leverages an eco-friendly, innovative way to make clothing and reduce waste in the process.
The New Norm partnered with Drake Extrusion to take Choi’s concept and build it to scale. By using the natural color of the party cups and ocean plastics, water is not used in a dyeing process (another benefit of using polypropylene) and The New Norm garments are constructed in a 3D knitting process, eliminating the traditional cut-and-sew technique. Learn about The New Norm’s history, how Choi and her team have crafted an eco-friendly culture and products, and how Drake collaborates with The New Norm to deliver yarn that is durable, sustainable, and ready for 3D knitting.
As far as what’s next for The New Norm and Drake, Choi explains, “We don’t know if things are going to work and it’s nice to work with someone who is open to those possibilities.”
To learn more about The New Norm, visit the website, https://thenewnormfabric.com/, and be sure to follow them on Instagram and Tiktok.
https://www.instagram.com/thenewnormfabric/?hl=en
https://www.tiktok.com/@thenewnormfabric
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-choi-thenewnorm/
HIGHLIGHTS:
0:15 Where It All Started The Why and How US made start to finish.
1:48: The First Collection: Materials and 3D knitting. Sustainable practices in zero water use, 3:37: Pilot to Production…and the power or partnership. Choi explains how The New Norm teamed up with the #1 manufacturer of party cups, Reynolds Consumer Products, to deliver the first capsule. Hint: the entire line sold out.
4:48: 3D Knitting 101 – yarn to garment.
7:00: Color Range. Experimenting with the natural color of party cups and ocean plastics for the final garment and overall look.
8:05: Recycled Materials and Made in America. Process starts in NC turning material to pellets. Goes to Drake for extrusion and refinement and then to NYC for knitting.
8:58: How You Connected and Partner with Drake. Collaboration opens the door for fine-tuning specifications and scaling. Both teams work together to create yarns for higher consistency and quality. Drake serves as a resource for refining products at scale.