From Waste to Wearable – Recycling Plastic Into Sustainable Clothing

Would you wear clothing made from plastic party cups recycled into fabric?

Lauren Choi, founder of The New Norm Fabric, joins host Ian Peterman to share how she’s turning hard-to-recycle plastics into sustainable fabric. From building an extruder in her garage to partnering with manufacturers, Lauren’s journey is a must-watch for innovators, entrepreneurs, and sustainability advocates. Learn about the challenges of recycling, the future of eco-friendly materials, and how she’s scaling her impact without traditional venture capital.

In this episode, we explore the birth of The New Norm and Lauren’s journey from college to sustainable fabric, along with the challenges and innovations in plastic recycling. Lauren discusses how she scaled her operation, moving from building a machine in her garage to manufacturing at scale. She shares insights into sourcing and recycling ocean plastics into wearable fabric, the future of sustainable fabric, and how the company is pushing eco-friendly innovations. Finally, Lauren talks about navigating the startup ecosystem and how she’s creating a positive environmental impact without relying on traditional venture capital.

Notable Moments

00:33 - From College to Sustainable Fabric: the birth of The New Norm
04:48 - Challenges and Innovations in Recycling
06:13 - Scaling Up: From Garage to Production
08:56 - Sourcing and Recycling Ocean Plastics
13:59 - The Future of Sustainable Textiles
20:03 - Navigating the Startup Ecosystem
29:28 - The Road Ahead: Scaling and Collaboration

About Lauren Choi and The New Norm

Lauren Choi is the founder of The New Norm. While studying Materials Engineering at Johns Hopkins, she spent a summer building an extruder machine in her garage to recycle plastic into yarn.

Since then, she has dedicated her life to scaling their recycling technology, building a domestic supply chain with manufacturing partners, and creating sustainable materials that are fully made in the U.S. The New Norm transforms party cups and ocean plastics into sustainable fabric.

Globally, over 90% of plastics are not recycled. The New Norm addresses this issue head-on by specifically targeting plastics that are not commonly recycled within the existing infrastructure and transforming them into sustainable, wearable fabric.

We are a global non-profit working to connect and inspire designers through programs, awards, and events, to create a global circular society through the principles of Conscious Design.