A method for facilitating the alignment of first and second side panel portions of a pants-type diaper whilst feeding a pants-type diaper precursor in a machine direction through processing apparatus. The pants-type diaper precursor includes a leading edge region, a trailing edge region and first and second side edge regions, each of the first and second side edge regions having a first side panel portion at the leading edge region and a second side panel portion at the trailing edge region. The method includes applying elastic elements under tension to a flat continuous web having a predetermined width in the cross-machine direction, the web forming either the backsheet or the topsheet of the pants-type diaper. The elastic element in the trailing edge region is adapted to generate a greater gathering force than the elastic element in the leading edge region such that the first and second panels are better aligned when brought into overlapping relationship.