Wearing article and production method therefor

A method of producing a wearing article, wherein the wearing article comprises a front abdominal portion disposed on a front abdominal region of a wearer in a worn state, a rear dorsal portion disposed on a rear dorsal region of the wearer in the worn state, and a crotch portion connecting the front abdominal portion and rear dorsal portion together in the worn state, the method comprising:

• a strip conveying step of conveying a first strip for forming one of the front abdominal portion and the rear dorsal portion, and a second strip for forming the other, in such a manner as to allow respective longitudinal directions of the first and second strips to become parallel to each other, while applying, to each of the first and second strips, a tension along the longitudinal direction thereof;
• a dividing step of dividing the first strip being conveyed, along a dividing line along a width direction of the first strip;
• a holding step of holding a relative positional relationship between two segments of the first strip on both sides of the dividing line;
• a restricting step of, within a period of implementation of the holding step, detachably attaching a first attaching-detaching member to the first strip in such a manner as to cover the dividing line, thereby restricting a relative displacement between the segments of the first strip on both sides of the dividing line;
• a first-end-region joining step of joining the first attaching-detaching member and a first end region of the crotch portion together;
• a second-end-region joining step of joining the second strip and a second end region of the crotch portion on a side opposite to the first end region;
• a folding step of folding an intermediate region of the crotch portion, thereby superimposing the first and second strips on each other;
• a side-sealing step of joining the superimposed first and second strips together on a lateral side of the folded crotch portion;
• a cutting step of cutting the superimposed first and second strips in such a manner that a joined section formed in the side-sealing step is left on each of both sides of the folded crotch portion;
• and
• a preparing step of, before the dividing step, preparing a subassembly by assembling together the first attaching-detaching member, and a pair of second attaching-detaching members each attachable and detachable with respect to the first attaching-detaching member, wherein
• the restricting step includes joining the pair of second attaching-detaching members of the subassembly, respectively to the segments of the first strip on both sides of the dividing line, the restricting step being implemented after the first-end-region joining step.