Patent ID: 7892622

Claim:
Method for manufacturing a tufted product, comprising: providing a non-woven fabric having a width; providing one or more tufting needles; providing a tufting yarn; introducing the tufting yarn and said one or more tufting needles along the width of the non-woven and piercing through the non-woven at one or more puncture sites to define a tuft hole; wherein said non-woven fabric comprises bicomponent splittable fibers which are split on or in the region of the puncture site during said piercing, wherein the splittable fibers are selected from combinations of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polypropylene (PP), and/or polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) and wherein said tuft holes in the tufted non-woven fabric containing said split fibers contract upon removal of said tuft yarn.