Suede-like raised woven fabric and process for the preparation thereof

A process for the preparation of a suede-like raised woven fabric which comprises the steps of:

• (1) providing hollow composite fibers, each composed of at least four alternately arranged components of fiber-forming polyester and fiber-forming polyamide which are mutually adhered side-by-side and encompass a hollow space, and which extend along the longitudinal axis of the fiber to form a tubular body, said composite fiber having a denier of from 1 to 10, and said each component having a denier of from 0.05 to 0.4;
• (2) forming said hollow composite fibers into a yarn selected from the group consisting of a single twist filament yarn and a loopy textured filament yarn having a size of from 50 to 500 denier;
• (3) weaving a fabric whose weft is the yarn comprising said hollow composite fibers and whose warp is a yarn having a size of from 50 to 300 denier;
• (4) dividing said hollow composite fibers constituting said weft yarn into fine fibers to form a bundle of fine fibers by a raising operation, wherein said bundle of fine fibers consists of raised and unraised portions, the average monofilament denier of said raised portion being in the range of from 0.05 to 0.4 denier and the average monofilament denier of said unraised portion being in a range of above 0.4 but not exceeding 0.8 denier;
• (5) applying a solution of an elastic polymer to said fabric;
• and
• (6) solidifying said elastic polymer.