Smart textiles have progressed from conventional passive sensing fabrics to advanced cyber-physical systems capable of integrating sensing, actuation, computation, and wireless communication within a single textile platform. With a focus on circular economy principles, this review critically examines intelligent textile ecosystems, from material architectures to AI-enabled wearable platforms. The functional hierarchy involves passive (sensing), active (sensing + response) and ultra-smart (autonomous decision making) textiles. The four classes of materials are metallic conductors, carbonaceous nanomaterials (CNTs and graphene), conductive polymers (PEDOT:PSS) and bio-based alternatives. Integration is achieved through coating, weaving, printing and additive manufacturing. Energy autonomy is achieved by five harvesting mechanisms: piezoelectric (1–10 µW·cm⁻²), triboelectric (10–100 µW·cm⁻²), thermoelectric (20–50 µW·cm⁻²), photovoltaic (100–1000 µW·cm⁻²) and bio-electrochemical (1–5 µW·cm⁻²). Hybrid systems can run continuously. Flexible supercapacitors and thin-film batteries are used for energy storage. The combination of AI and IoT allows for multi-tier architectures that encompass edge processing (TinyML), gateway management, and cloud analytics. On-device inference reduces energy consumption by 60–80%, improves privacy and enables real-time anomaly detection using CNNs, LSTMs and autoencoders. Sustainability is considered through life-cycle assessment, which quantifies impacts across extraction, fabrication, use, and end-of-life of materials. Circular strategies such as design for disassembly, harmonization of materials, biodegradable electronics, and recycling routes are all important. We critically evaluate key challenges such as manufacturing scalability, washability, biocompatibility, and regulatory standardization. This review provides a unifying framework that connects materials science, electronics, AI and sustainable design, providing a roadmap for circular, intelligent and energy-autonomous textile systems in line with UN SDGs (3, 9, 12, 13).

The development of multifunctional textiles with enhanced ultraviolet (UV) protection has attracted increasing attention due to the growing demand for protective and high-performance clothing. In this study, cotton fabrics dyed with reactive dyes at three dye concentrations (0.5%, 1.5%, and 3.0% owf) were functionalised with titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles using a pad-dry-cure process. The influence of TiO₂ concentration and washing on colour strength, colour fastness, UV protection, fabric stiffness, and pad–dry–cure immediate washing resistance was investigated through colorimetric measurements, FTIR spectroscopy, SEM analysis, and ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) evaluation. TiO₂ treatment produced only minor changes in colour strength, while colour fastness and fabric stiffness were largely preserved. FTIR and SEM analyses provided evidence consistent with the deposition of TiO₂-containing material and its partial removal after washing. The most significant improvement was observed in UV protection, with TiO₂-treated fabrics exhibiting substantially higher UPF values than untreated samples, while maintaining enhanced protection after laundering. These findings demonstrate that TiO₂ nanoparticle pad–dry–cure treatment is an effective post-dyeing strategy for improving the UV-protective performance of reactive-dyed cotton fabrics without compromising their colour durability or handling characteristics.

Smart textiles have progressed from conventional passive sensing fabrics to advanced cyber-physical systems capable of integrating sensing, actuation, computation, and wireless communication within a single textile platform. With a focus on circular economy principles, this review critically examines intelligent textile ecosystems, from material architectures to AI-enabled wearable platforms. The functional hierarchy in-volves passive (sensing), active (sensing + response) and ultra-smart (autonomous deci-sion-making) textiles. The four classes of materials are metallic conductors, carbonaceous nanomaterials (CNTs and graphene), conductive polymers (PEDOT:PSS) and bio-based alternatives. Integration is achieved by coating, weaving, printing and additive manu-facturing. Energy autonomy is achieved by five harvesting mechanisms: piezoelectric (1–10 µW·cm⁻²), triboelectric (10–100 µW·cm⁻²), thermoelectric (20–50 µW·cm⁻²), photovol-taic (100–1000 µW·cm⁻²) and bioelectrochemical (1–5 µW·cm⁻²). Hybrid systems can run continuously. Flexible supercapacitors and thin-film batteries are used for energy stor-age. The combination of AI and IoT allows for multi-tier architectures that encompass edge processing (TinyML), gateway management, and cloud analytics. On-device in-ference reduces energy consumption by 60-80%, improves privacy and enables real-time anomaly detection using CNNs, LSTMs and autoencoders. Sustainability is considered by life cycle assessment, which quantifies impacts across extraction, fabrication, use, and end-of-life of materials. Circular strategies: Design for disassembly, harmonisation of materials, biodegradable electronics, and recycling routes are all important. We critically evaluate key challenges such as manufacturing scalability, washability, biocompatibility, and regulatory standardisation. This review provides a unifying framework that con-nects materials science, electronics, AI and sustainable design, providing a roadmap for circular, intelligent and energy-autonomous textile systems in line with UN SDGs (3, 9, 12, 13).