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Every time a parent and child shop for clothing, there\u2019s a battle between the holder of the purse strings and the (eventual) wearer of the clothes. The adult in the room needs the apparel to provide good value for the money, while the kid may be more focused on fashion value \u2014 no matter if it falls apart after a dozen washes. Depending on your family dynamics, the fight can be quiet or loud \u2014 but no matter the volume, it will take place eventually.<\/p>\n
The Children\u2019s Place<\/strong>, which prides itself on being the only U.S. specialty retailer offering head-to-toe apparel for children in sizes from zero to 16<\/strong>, wants this to be less of a fight and more of a negotiation \u2014 one in which the child is an active participant. Acknowledging that \u201cthe child is influencing [shopping] choices a lot more, and a lot earlier in age,\u201d Smeeta Khetarpaul, SVP and Head of Marketing at The Children\u2019s Place, tied this societal movement to the retailer\u2019s new \u201cIt\u2019s a Yes Day\u201d brand platform.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to empower these kids at an earlier age and help them learn to make decisions,\u201d said Khetarpaul in an interview with Retail TouchPoints<\/em>. \u201cOf course, the parent is still in the decision mix, but \u2018It\u2019s a Yes Day\u2019 is about both of them coming together.\u201d<\/p>\n The Children\u2019s Place is counting on the new platform to help address ongoing challenges by raising awareness among shoppers (both young and old alike). During the retailer\u2019s Q3 2025, which ended Nov. 1, 2025, sales decreased 13%<\/strong>, dropping from $390.2 million to $339.5 million. For the first nine<\/strong> months of its fiscal year, sales declined 10%<\/strong>, from $977.7 million to $879.6 million<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The legacy retailer, established in 1969, also is looking to its 499 <\/strong>brick-and-mortar stores, which had generated 2%<\/strong> growth in comparable sales for Q3, as a key element in its comeback. \u201cWe opened five<\/strong> new stores during the third quarter, with another 11<\/strong> store openings planned for the fourth quarter,\u201d said Muhammad Umair, President and CEO of The Children\u2019s Place in a December 2025 statement.<\/p>\n \u201cLooking ahead, we plan to open an additional 15 to 20<\/strong> new stores in the first half of fiscal year 2026, ahead of our critical back-to-school season to drive revenue growth and profitability, with more store openings in the back-half of fiscal year 2026 and beyond,\u201d Umair added. \u201cWe also plan to refresh our store layouts, and in conjunction with our revamped My Place Rewards loyalty program, we are excited for the enhanced experience this will create for our new and existing customer file.\u201d<\/p>\n Khetarpaul, who has been with The Children\u2019s Place for less than a year but also has held top marketing positions at companies including Crocs, Danone, BrightFarms<\/strong> and Nestl\u00e9<\/strong>, shared details about the retailer\u2019s plans to make any day, and every day, a \u201cYes\u201d day when it comes to kids\u2019 clothes.<\/p>\n Retail TouchPoints: How do you see the \u201cIt\u2019s a Yes Day\u201d platform building on the bigger role kids are playing in deciding what they wear?<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n In a broader sense, \u201cIt\u2019s a Yes Day\u201d also represents our brand philosophy. Saying \u201cyes\u201d in life generally opens opportunities, and we\u2019re saying \u201cyes\u201d to kids expressing themselves. Even in the creative we\u2019ll be using, we\u2019re picturing open spaces, blue skies and kids moving, showing kids as their joyful selves as opposed to models that are posed.<\/strong><\/p>\n We also want to showcase what authentic childhood is, including the funny, messy details and the funny things they see. The ultimate benefit of this is confidence for the kids, and then confidence for the parent that they are making the right decision.<\/p>\n RTP: How will The Children\u2019s Place be leveraging this new brand positioning?<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Khetarpaul:<\/strong> It\u2019s going to provide a strategic foundation across marketing, digital and retail going forward. We see \u201cIt\u2019s a Yes Day\u201d as an operating model showing how to touch the customer at every touch point. It will impact our customer experience \u2014 how they feel when they come into a store, where we\u2019re focused on providing a kid-first environment. It will also guide the products that we\u2019re retailing, and overall help us tell better product stories and create better experiences and activities.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll be launching this in phases, starting with creative assets across retail and our website. Then we\u2019ll be talking to the customer and do more storytelling about our head-to-toe messaging. We want to meet the consumer where they are, which is often on social media with their whole families.<\/p>\n Additionally, we\u2019re building a new influencer strategy with this new ethos, talking about how they feel about The Children\u2019s Place brand and the shopping experience. The goal is to be as consistent as possible across all touch points, and also to be able to iterate [as we progress] to get better and better. We\u2019ll also see creative refreshes for periods like back-to-school and holiday that will double down on that \u201cIt\u2019s a Yes Day\u201d expression as we try to make it more and more authentic.<\/p>\n Additionally, this year, there will be specific brand partnerships [supporting \u201cIt\u2019s a Yes Day\u201d] coming down the pike.<\/p>\n RTP: What impact do you see this new platform having on The Children\u2019s Place\u2019s business?<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Khetarpaul: <\/strong>Ultimately, any brand positioning refresh must drive business. I see the opportunity here as shifting our marketing from short-term, transaction-driven messaging to a much more long-term customer connection and community-building experience that fuels the entire ecosystem. The goal is to build high-quality organic demand over that long term. It\u2019s been a labor of love to come to this point, and I\u2019m also very proud of getting The Children\u2019s Place to this point in such a short time.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"RTP](\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/23836458\/interactive-207998848949.png\")
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Smeeta Khetarpaul: <\/strong>It\u2019s the kid who is driving the \u201cwant\u201d today; they\u2019re the decision-maker on fashion, and the parent is the purchaser. The \u201cIt\u2019s a Yes Day\u201d platform is designed to be a place that gets kids excited about the product as they own their identity. We also want to give parents the comfort, convenience and confidence of great product at a great value, but we all know that if the kid is very excited [about a purchase], the parent is more confident.<\/p>\n