<p>Natural cellulose fibers have a unique hierarchical structure, starting from nanofibers, to microfiber bundles, and consequent to large scale fibers. This work wants to utilize this characteristic to tailor the surface morphology of plant-based fabrics in situ, avoiding complex separate washing process, and explore their functional applications. Specifically, ramie fabric was moderately oxidated using the 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO)/NaClO₂/NaClO system. The scanning electron microscopy results show that a large number of cellulose micro-nanofibers can protrude from the fiber surface on the TEMPO-mediated oxidized ramie fabric (TORF) by controlling the reagent additions, which enlarges the specific surface area of the fabric. Subsequently, the crystal structure, chemical structure, carboxylate content and mechanical properties of the fabrics with different degrees of oxidation were determined in detail. In addition, the TORF was successfully modified by carbon nanotubes (CNTs) through simple physical adsorption. The electrical conductivity of the CNT-modified TORF increases with the oxidation degree of the fabric. Moreover, it shows application potential in fields such as electric heating. Based on the natural hierarchical structure, this work provides new ideas for the surface structure tailoring of natural plant fabrics and fibers, and also provides a platform for fabric functionalization.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>