Key points

  • Millions of cheap garments labeled "photo-ready" and "travel photo essential" are sold on e-commerce platforms, with some items priced as low as 9 yuan, mostly made of polyester, which is difficult to degrade naturally.
  • The 2022 Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Recycling of Waste Textiles, issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments, explicitly opposes consumption patterns that artificially shorten the textile life cycle and discard garments after a single wear.
  • The 2021 Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Establishment and Improvement of a Green, Low-Carbon, Circular Development Economic System, issued by the State Council, already advocates that hotels, restaurants and other industries not proactively provide single-use items.

The "disposable clothing" consumption pattern—buying cheap clothes online for travel photos and discarding them after one or two wears—is gaining popularity on social media. During long holidays, such products are especially sought after by young people. Millions of cheap garments on e-commerce platforms are tagged "photo-ready" and "travel photo essential," with some priced as low as 9 yuan. Eye-catching in style and designed specifically for travel photo scenarios, they are then left idle or discarded. Although many users see them as a cost-effective travel choice, the environmental cost behind them has drawn attention.

At fixed photo spots such as grasslands, deserts and seasides, relatively fixed outfit styles have taken shape. Disposable clothes offer striking visual effects but are unsuitable for daily wear; buying more expensive vacation clothing often means it sits idle after the trip. Merchants compress costs in response to this psychology and set special transaction terms to avoid return and exchange risks, objectively driving the "wear once and throw away" trend.

Most of these garments are made of polyester, a petroleum-based synthetic material that can persist in landfill environments for centuries. Due to low cost and rough craftsmanship, fibers tend to break after a single wear. Large quantities of clothes are left behind in homestays after photo shoots or go straight into trash bins; during disposal, these fabrics release large amounts of microplastics that seep into soil and groundwater, posing environmental risks.

Policies have taken a clear stance on single-use consumption patterns. The 2021 Guiding Opinions issued by the State Council propose advocating that hotels, restaurants and other industries not proactively provide single-use items. The 2022 Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Recycling of Waste Textiles, issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments, propose improving the recycling rate of waste textiles and opposing consumption patterns that artificially shorten the textile life cycle and discard garments after a single wear. The recently implemented Ecological Environment Code also requires product design to consider environmental impacts across the full life cycle and resists the "use and discard" consumption logic.

As the peak travel season approaches, disposable clothes have once again become a hot search term on social media. Their styles are mostly special designs such as ethnic-style long dresses for seaside photos, cloaks for forest scenes and fluorescent-colored windbreakers, priced from a dozen to several dozen yuan. There is no heartache after wearing them, and they can also be resold. For the industry engaged in old clothing recycling and circular use, once such fiber products generated from waste enter the household waste stream in large quantities, they will increase the processing pressure on sorting and regeneration stages.

Source: The environmental cost of disposable clothes deserves vigilance; green consumption needs to be advocated · Originally published on 2026-10-12