Bulky nonwoven fabric and method for producing the same

A bulky nonwoven fabric which is produced by entangling:

• a stretched filament web composed of either at least one layer of a stretched unidirectionally arranged filament web which is prepared by unidirectionally stretching a long fiber filament web spun from a thermoplastic resin and the fibers of which fabric are almost unidirectionally arranged or a stretched crosswise laminated filament web prepared by crosswise superposing said stretched unidirectionally arranged filament webs, and
• a short fiber web made of a natural fiber, a regenerated fiber or a synthetic fiber,
• and then the obtained entangled nonwoven fabric is heat-treated to shrink the long fibers of said stretched filament web and to crimp the short fibers of said short fiber web.

A method for producing a bulky nonwoven fabric which comprises the steps of:

• superposing and entangling a short fiber web with a stretched filament web composed of either at least one layer of a stretched unidirectionally arranged filament web in which the stretched long fibers are almost unidirectionally arranged or a stretched crosswise laminated filament web prepared by superposing two or more of said stretched unidirectionally arranged filament webs, and
• heat-treating the obtained entangled nonwoven fabrics to shrink the long fibers of said stretched filament web and to crimp the short fibers of said short fiber web.