The Children’s Place is Going After Millennial Parents
The once iconic kids fashion retailer, The Children’s Place, which also owns Gymboree, Sugar & Jade, and PJ Place, has been struggling with falling sales and widening losses driven by a change in consumer preferences, demographics, cultural environment, and supply chain challenges. In February 2024, the retailer warned of liquidity concerns, and a month later, it got a new majority shareholder, triggering the departure of the company’s longtime CEO, Jane Elfers. Earlier this year, The Children’s Place welcomed a new CFO, which, understandably, did not stop its fiscal 1Q25 earnings to show a quarterly loss three-times wider than expected. Its net sales were also down by 9.6% Y-o-Y, netting USD 242 million in during the fiscal quarter.
The impeding tariffs are also expected to further stress the retailer, despite having a well-diversified manufacturing base across 20 countries.
Despite the gloom, The Children’s Place is expecting their new partnership with Sanrio to lure millennial parents by offering “culturally relevant” brands that are more attuned to what’s going on in media, sports, and entertainment. Over the last few months, The Children’s Place have partnered with Disney, Spider-Man, Messi, Nike, and Huggies to launch special collections. These partnerships are key to driving The Children’s Place forward, since the turnover for kid’s apparel is quite quick, making it even more crucial to develop product that is relevant with children that spend a lot of time on YouTube, and social media (who can forget the Sephora kids trying on Drunk Elephant products).
Even more recently, the retailer announced its partnership with Sanrio to launch Hello Kitty and Friends products. The initial collection will be launched in September under the theme “Perfect Paris” and includes 21 SKUs, including Hello Kitty sweatshirts, denim jackets and jeans. Later collections will be released just in time for Halloween, 2025 December holuiday, and spring 2026.
According to Claudia Lima-Guinehut, The Children’s Place brand president, these partnerships were created to “increase and improve our lifetime customer value.” For instance, she adds, “we know boys at a certain age want branded product for active, so Nike 3Brand helps us retain them longer.” “On the flip side, we know that girls at a certain age are aging out of The Children’s Place. A Hello Kitty collab helps us retain them longer, too.” In addition, the brand’s partnership with Huggies “gets mom into the funnel at the very start of her journey.”
