Sheet material used to form portions of fasteners

A sheet material adapted to be cut into smaller ravel resistant pieces to form portions of a fastener, said sheet material comprising:

• polymeric base yarns having intersecting portions forming a backing having front and rear major surfaces, at least some of the base yarns being bonding yarns comprising a first portion formed of a polymeric structural material and a second portion formed of a thermoplastic binding material having a significantly lower melting temperature than the softening temperature of the structural material;
• and
• pile yarns of polymeric material having portions entwined in the backing and other portions projecting from the front surface of the backing, the entwined portions of the pile yarns each contacting at least one of the bonding yarns with the binding material adhered to the structural material along the bonding yarns and to portions of the yarns that contact the bonding yarns to bond the backing together and anchor the pile yarns in the backing, the binding material having a non uniform distribution within the sheet material with the highest concentration of the binding material being adjacent the structural material and its concentration becomes progressively less at portions of the warp yarns and pile yarns spaced farther away from the structural material.