Abstract: A tufted nonwoven web material exhibiting high loft, bulk and absorbency is made by a papermaking technique using an apertured, plate-like, fiber-collecting element having a structure appropriate to preventing entanglement between adjacent tufts prior to removal from the element. The apertured element is adapted not only to form the tufted nonwoven fibrous web but also to permit consolidation of individual tufts and facilitate the formation of tufted webs from 100 percent wood pulp. Additionally, webs having tufts on both planar surfaces also can be formed by this technique.