NOTE FROM OUR FOUNDER
Lauren Choi
When I was studying Materials Engineering at Johns Hopkins, I spent a summer building an extruder machine in my garage to recycle plastic into yarn. I took it back to school and kept tinkering. Being on a college campus, you’re surrounded by party cups in just about any social setting and that’s what really inspired me to begin recycling them.
Fast forward 4 years, we are launching our first products: the Party Sweater & Party Beanie! By purchasing this garment, you are not only supporting The New Norm but also our recycling, yarn manufacturing, fabric and apparel knitting partners in North Carolina, Virginia, and New York.
Together, we can transform plastic waste into something beautiful. Together, we can become The New Norm.
Lauren
How it's Made
Green Party Beanie (Sold Out)
3D Knit
We have partnered with Tailored Industry to 3D knit our garments. 3D knitting is similar to 3D printing but for apparel. The Party Sweater & Party Beanie are knit straight out of the machine without any sewing. Traditional industrial cut-and-sew can waste over 35% of the fabric used. Additionally, our garments are made on-demand. When you click purchase, your garment starts knitting. This means no wasted inventory.
Made in the US
We are fully Made in the US. We recycle plastics, extrude yarn, and knit fabrics in North Carolina and Virginia. Our partners are located in a 50 mile radius. In comparison, the fast fashion supply chain can be over 10,000 miles long for a single garment. We are proud to be supporting local industries and minimizing our carbon footprint. Our garments are knit in Brooklyn, NY.
Recycled Materials
Using our proprietary recycling technology, we transform plastics into yarns and fabrics. We specifically target plastics that are not commonly recycled. In the US, over 70% of plastics are not actually recycled. To date, we have applied our technology to party cups and ocean plastics.
Hefty® Party Cups: Reynolds Consumer Products (Nasdaq: REYN), the manufacturer of the iconic red Hefty® Party Cup, is taking a significant step towards sustainability by supporting The New Norm. Thanks to the grant from RCP, we have been able to conduct important pilot production trials. RCP has provided recyclable materials for testing and trials.
Zero Water
We use ZERO water in our entire process from plastic to yarn to fabric to garment. Our materials are “dyed” at the yarn stage by the recycled plastics we use to create them. For example, recycled red, blue, and green Hefty® Party Cups naturally dye our yarns a beautiful pink, baby blue, and light green color.
Filament Yarns
To combat fiber shedding and microplastic pollution, we are only producing filament yarns. Filament yarns are made from continuous filaments, not individual fibers. The majority of apparel is made from staple (spun) yarns, which are created by spinning staple fibers together into a yarn. When a garment is put into the laundry machine, these staple fibers shed easily and enter the water stream.