Substrates having repeating patterns of apertures for absorbent articles

An absorbent article comprising:

• a central lateral axis;
• a central longitudinal axis extending perpendicular to the central lateral axis;
• a topsheet that is liquid permeable, apertured, and nonwoven;
• a backsheet that is liquid impermeable;
• and
• an absorbent core disposed at least partially intermediate the topsheet and the backsheet;
• the absorbent article having a length along the central longitudinal axis;
• the absorbent article having a width along the central lateral axis;
• wherein the topsheet comprises a grid of apertures formed by a first plurality of rows of apertures extending in a first direction and a second plurality of rows extending in a second direction, wherein the rows of apertures of the first and second plurality of rows are uniformly spaced, the grid of apertures comprising repeat units, with each repeat unit being defined between (i) centerlines of two adjacent rows of the first plurality of rows, and (ii) centerlines of two adjacent rows of the second plurality of rows that intersect respective ones of the centerlines of the two adjacent rows of the first plurality of rows, wherein the intersections of the centerlines of rows of the first plurality of rows and the centerlines of rows of the second plurality of rows do not comprise an aperture;
• wherein each aperture of the first and second plurality of rows comprises a major axis and a minor axis shorter than the major axis, the major axis of all apertures in the first plurality of rows having a first orientation and the major axis of all apertures in the second plurality of rows having a second orientation that is different from the first orientation;
• wherein each of the repeat units is substantially the same, and each of the repeat units comprises a central region comprising first apertures and a defined space between the central region and bordering apertures of the adjacent rows of apertures, and wherein the first apertures in each central region are positioned to form a shape of an equity element;
• and
• wherein the repeat units repeat at least along the width of the absorbent article;
• wherein the repeat units have a repeat unit length defined between adjacent intersections of the centerlines of the first and second plurality of rows parallel to the central longitudinal axis of the absorbent article, a repeat unit width defined between adjacent intersections of the centerlines of the first and second plurality of rows parallel to the central lateral axis of the absorbent article, and a repeat unit area in a range of about 730 mm2 to 1,400 mm2.