Nonwoven textile fabric with fused face and raised loop pile

A textile fabric comprising:

• a first side and a second side;
• coherent nonwoven fibers;
• a first fused face on said first side wherein at least a portion of said nonwoven fibers on said first side are fused together;
• a second fused face on said second side wherein at least a portion of said nonwoven fibers on said second side are fused together;
• and
• an unfused plurality of said nonwoven fibers extending outwardly from one of said sides of said fabric whereby a raised pile is formed on said one of said sides.

A method of producing a nonwoven fabric comprising the steps of:

• forming a batt comprising nonwoven fibers;
• drafting the thus formed batt in at least one direction;
• fusing at least a portion of the fibers on one side of the thus drafted batt to form a fused face on the one side of said batt and an unfused face on the opposite side of said batt;
• and
• needle punching said thus fused batt so that at least a portion of the fibers from the unfused face are punched from the opposite side of said batt through the fused face to form a raised pile on the one side of said batt.

A method of producing a nonwoven fabric comprising the steps of:

• forming a batt comprising staple fibers wherein said staple fibers are positioned primarily in a first direction;
• drafting said batt in a first drafting zone in a second direction, said second direction being primarily perpendicular to said first direction;
• needle punching said thus drafted batt in a first needle punching zone so as to render said fibers more coherent;
• drafting said thus needle punched batt in a second drafting zone in said second direction;
• drafting said thus drafted batt in a third drafting zone in said first direction;
• fusing at least a portion of the fibers on one side of said thus drafted batt in a first fusing zone thereby forming a fused face on the one side of said batt and an unfused face on the opposite side of said batt;
• and
• needle punching said thus fused batt in a second needle punching zone whereby at least a portion of the fibers from the unfused face are punched from the opposite side of said batt through the fused face to form a raised pile on the one side of said batt.

A method of producing a nonwoven fabric comprising the steps of:

• forming a batt comprising nonwoven fibers;
• drafting the thus formed batt in at least one direction;
• fusing at least a portion of the fibers on one side of the thus drafted batt to form a fused face on the one side of said batt and an unfused face on the opposite side of said batt;
• and
• needle punching said thus fused batt so that at least a portion of the fibers are punched from the one side of said batt through the unfused face to form a raised pile on the opposite side of said batt.