HYGIENISCHER, SAUGFÄHIGER GEGENSTAND

An absorbent article (10) comprises a substantially liquid-impermeable outer cover member (30) having a length (90) and a width (92). The outer cover (30) provides a rear waistband portion (14) and a front waistband portion (12), and has a layer of polymer film material on an outer surface of the front waistband portion (12) of the outer cover (30). A liquid permeable topsheet layer (28) is provided for contacting a wearer's skin, and an absorbent body (32) is interposed between the outer cover (30) and the topsheet layer (28). The absorbent body (32) has a length (94) and width (96) which are smaller than the outer cover length (90) and width (92), thereby providing end margins and side margins of the outer cover. An adhesive fastening mechanism (36) adheres to the film layer to secure the front and rear waistband portions (12,14) of the outer cover (30) about the wearer. An elastic member (82) is connected to provide elasticized gathers along a cross-direction of the rear waistband portion (14) of the outer cover (30). An outermost layer (84) of substantially nonwettable, resilient material is connected to overlie the polymer film of the outer cover along the front waistband portion (12) of the outer cover (30), thereby sandwiching the polymer film between the topsheet layer (28) and the outermost layer (84) of resilient material. The outermost resilient material (84) has a lengthwise extent (86) which is less than the length (90) of the outer cover (30).