Environmentally-friendly foam-coating synthetic strategy for fabrics with robust superhydrophobicity, self-cleaning capability and flame retardance properties

•An form finishing strategy for the construction of robust superhydrophobic fabric.•The as-prepared superhydrophobic fabric demonstrates good air permeation and self-cleaning ability.•The treated fabric exhibits excellent flame retardancy performance compared with pure cotton fabric.•The environment-friendly modified system contains fluorine-free materials and water-rich solution.