A sanitary article comprises a main body comprising a top and bottom sides and an absorbent core therebetween surrounded and bounded by a core border formed in the top and bottom sides. The top side defines a body contacting surface within the core border. The bottom side defines an undergarment contacting surface within the core border. A main body contour extends beyond the core border and is surrounded and bounded by a sealed main body perimeter defining opposite main body longitudinal ends and opposite main body lateral sides. Each main body lateral side having front and rear portions thereof and a middle portion therebetween. A respective tear line is defined between the inner lateral part of each one of the pair of wings and the middle portion. When a sufficient tearing force is applied to the tear line thereby a wing is fully removed from the main body without physical integrity disturbance of the sealed perimeter at each of the middle portions.

An absorbent article having a longitudinal axis and a transverse axis is provided. The article has a topsheet and backsheet, together forming a chassis that is symmetrical about the transverse axis. An absorbent core is disposed between the topsheet and the backsheet, with a perimeter of the chassis extending beyond the surface area of the core. The absorbent core is asymmetrical about the transverse axis. In one embodiment, less than 50% of the surface area of the absorbent article is mechanically compressed. In another embodiment, the absorbent article has an in-use flexibility of less than 170 mN, preferably less than 130 mN. In a further embodiment, the absorbent article has a stiffness measured in the core free area of less than 0.4 g*cm.

An apparatus and method for manufacturing an elastic composite structure for an absorbent sanitary product includes at least one structure that guides web layers in a machine direction, an elastic thread combiner that combines a plurality of elastic threads to form a combined elastic thread assembly, and a bonding unit. The bonding unit bonds the web layers together via a bond pattern that includes bond lines that each have at least one pair of adjacent bonds, which anchor the combined elastic thread assembly within a passage defined by a pair of adjacent bonds in each of the plurality of bond lines. The passage is narrower than the combined elastic thread assembly in a non-tensioned state and wider than one of the plurality of elastic threads in a non-tensioned state.

An apparatus and method for manufacturing an elastic composite structure for an absorbent sanitary product includes at least one structure that guides web layers in a machine direction, an elastic thread combiner that combines a plurality of elastic threads to form a combined elastic thread assembly, and a bonding unit. The bonding unit bonds the web layers together via a bond pattern that includes bond lines that each have at least one pair of adjacent bonds, which anchor the combined elastic thread assembly within a passage defined by a pair of adjacent bonds in each of the plurality of bond lines. The passage is narrower than the combined elastic thread assembly in a non-tensioned state and wider than one of the plurality of elastic threads in a non-tensioned state.