A high-loft, nonwoven fabric with a substantially continuous backing layer of adhesive and a multiplicity of fibers looped outwardly from the backing; and a method of making the fabric by first embedding a web of fibers in an open pattern of adhesive and then consolidating the adhesive into a substantially continuous backing layer while looping the fibers outwardly from the backing. In certain instances, the loops may be subsequently shorn, the backing may be stretched or perforated, or the fabric may be laminated to an additional backing or backings to change the final characteristics of the product.