Patent ID: 8771247

Claim:
An elongated absorbent article, comprising a surface layer having an at least partly liquid-permeable surface sheet; a back layer having a liquid-impermeable back sheet; an absorbent layer having a liquid-retainable absorbent body arranged between the surface and back layers; and a pair of gathers which are formed to be separated from each other on both sides of a longitudinal direction of the surface layer, and each of which has a three-dimensional-shaped portion substantially Ω-shaped in a cross-section cut along a width direction of the gather and is configured to have a hollow portion by a sheet member, each of the pair of gathers located across an anterior portion, a posterior portion, and a central portion between the anterior portion and the posterior portion in the longitudinal direction of the absorbent article, the three-dimensional-shaped portion being joined to the surface layer and/or the back layer by a connecting portion which is formed to extend in the longitudinal direction of the absorbent article, wherein each of the pair of gathers has a two-layer portion which defines the hollow portion, and is formed in such a way that the sheet member extends from a region more outward in the width direction than an outer edge of the absorbent body to an upper surface of an end of the absorbent body, is folded back outwardly at a first folding back portion, extends alone an outer side a top side and an inner side of the three-dimensional-shaped portion, is folded back inwardly at a second folding back portion, and extends along an inner periphery of the hollow portion within the three-dimensional-shaped portion, wherein the connecting portion comprises a first connecting end extending in the longitudinal direction of the absorbent article, which forms an end inward in a width direction of the three-dimensional-shaped portion, and a second connecting end extending in the longitudinal direction of the absorbent article, which forms an end outward in the width direction of the three-dimensional-shaped portion, wherein the first connecting end comprises the first and second folding back portions that are overlapped and joined to each other, and the second connecting end comprises a region in which opposed surfaces of the sheet member adjacent to the first folding back portion are joined to each other.