Composite laminate with enhanced through-the-thickness properties

A woven fabric having uniformly spaced loops of yarn protruding out of the plane of the fabric, each said loop formed from at least one weft yarn and two sets of warp yarns;

• the two sets of warp yarns comprising a substantially in-plane set and a substantially out-of-plane set;
• said loops protruding out of the plane of the fabric to the extent of at least two out-of-plane warp yarn diameters;
• successive loops in the same row spaced from each other by at least two in-plane warp yarn diameters;
• at least one of said out-of-plane warp yarns passing through the weft yarn loop;
• the remainder of said out-of-plane warp yarns woven in a sinusoidal course about the loops in neighboring rows;
• and
• the in-plane warp yarns alternating above and below the plane of the fabric in neighboring rows;
• whereby the in-plane and out-of-plane warp yarns maintain the loops in a position substantially perpendicular to the plane of the fabric.