Abstract: A flexible shoe insole (8) is formed from essentially bi-component fiber (1) having a first low melting point for one component and a second higher melting point for a second component. The fiber is entangled (3) to form a fabric. The fabric thereafter is heated (4) to a temperature sufficient to melt the first component of the bi-component fiber (1) without causing permanent structural impairment of or to the second component, and the thickness of the fabric is reduced (5) to a pre-selected thickness.

Abstract: The present invention relates to composite stiffener materials in the form of a nonwoven sheet of fabric comprising one or more multi-component fibers, wherein at least one component of the one or more multi-component fibers is a thermoplastic material, and each thermoplastic material within a multi-component fiber having two or more thermoplastic materials has a different melting point, prepared by a method comprising the steps of: (a) entangling the fibers to form a fabric, (b) heating the fabric to a temperature sufficient to melt at least one thermoplastic material of a multi-component fiber without permanent structural impairment of other fiber components, and (c) reducing the thickness of the heated fabric to form a non-woven sheet of fabric. One feature of the invention is the elimination of saturating non woven material in the formation of the composite material.