From Party to Pullover: Sweaters Made from Solo Cups

On a college campus, amid parties and littered cups, one student saw possibility instead of trash. Lauren Choi, an engineering undergrad, looked at the heaps of red and white Solo cups strewn about and asked: “Why can’t we spin this into something new?”

Most plastic waste, especially party cups, are nearly impossible to recycle.

A person throwing a ping pong ball toward a row of red Solo cups on a table.

But instead of giving up, Choi devised a way to extrude plastic waste into textile filament, creating yarn that can be knitted directly into clothing. That idea became her company, The New Norm.

Four fabric swatches in pastel colors: pink, light pink, white, and light gray, laid flat on a surface.

From Parties to Pullover

Choi started small: organizing campus collection drives, enlisting fraternities to gather thousands of cups, and refining her extrusion process. Her first product drop, sweaters and beanies made from those very cups, sold out within two months.

Three young men wearing colorful sweaters and knitted beanies, engaging in conversation and smiling against a neutral backdrop.

A large roll of translucent blue filament yarn sits next to a blue disposable plastic cup, symbolizing the transformation of plastic waste into textile material.

Today, The New Norm uses a “plug-and-play” process. Plastic filament is extruded in facilities across the U.S., shipped to Brooklyn, and then 3D knitted into garments, no cutting, no sewing, and virtually zero fabric waste.

A group of four young adults wearing pastel sweaters poses playfully with colorful plastic cups on their heads, smiling and having fun.

Three women in pastel sweaters are playfully holding bright blue cups upside down, smiling and looking upwards against a neutral background.

The Beauty in the Bits

Because many party cups are already dyed in pastel tones: pink, green, blue, the yarn often requires no further dyeing. That means less chemical use, and a more direct path from waste to wardrobe.

Even better: by using continuous filament yarns instead of spun fibers, The New Norm’s garments shed far fewer microplastics in the wash.

A student in casual clothing is joyfully juggling colorful plastic cups on a college campus, surrounded by more cups on the ground, with a vibrant red wall in the background.

A Humble Start, an Ambitious Future

Choi is now in Boston, pursuing an MBA, but The New Norm continues to scale. What began as a creative experiment has grown into a mission: to weave new life into waste, to reimagine fashion systems, and to turn discarded plastic into something wearable, meaningful, and beautiful.

In a world overflowing with “fast fashion” and fast waste, Choi’s work feels like a pause, a chance to see the elegance hidden in scraps, and a reminder that sometimes the best solutions are born from what others discard.