The article proposes a model of the structure of a nonwoven fibrous material as a complex proba-bilistic design of fiber elements and areas of interaction between fibers and a mechanism for the interaction of elastic properties of fibers with friction between them, taking into account the structure of the material. The proposed mechanism for the behavior of fibers in a material under external influences made it possible to qualitatively explain the complex behavior of a material: reversible elastic deformations, plastic deformations, aging, and the gradual loss of operational advantages of non-woven fibrous fabrics. Generalized energy ideas about the accumulation and consumption of the residual energy of fiber deformation are used.