Softening and bulking stitchbonded fabrics

A process for softening and bulking a stitchbonded nonwoven fabric which weighs in the range of 25 to 250 g/m.sup.2 and in which the stitching yarns form 2 to 10 longitudinal rows of stitches per cm across the fabric which contain 2 to 10 stitches per cm of row length, the process comprising linearly stretching the fabric by 15 to 50% in directions parallel and/or transverse to the longitudinal rows of stitches and then releasing the fabric from the stretch and allowing the fabric to relax, the fabric being in a substantially non-heated condition during the stretching, releasing and relaxing whereby the fabric recovers at least half of the applied stretch, the fabric surface area is increased by no more than 15%, and fabric thickness is increased by at least 100%.