Carter's big rebrand amid challenging children's clothing market

Carter’s, the 161-year-old kid’s clothing company whose brands include OshKosh B’gosh and Skip Hop, announced on Tuesday that it’s time for a rebrand.

The retailer has a new logo and a new marketing campaign.

The idea is to catch the attention of a new generation of parents who shop differently than their parents did. It comes as the children’s clothing industry faces challenges like changing demographics and increased competition.

But Carter’s is still the largest baby clothing company in the country, with a bunch of known brands.

“The old logo was frankly pretty basic,” said Tom Nikic, senior analyst at Needham & Company.

The old logo was block letters spelling out “Carter’s.” The new one is in cursive and has a little star where the apostrophe used to be. Nikic said it’s more whimsical.

“Kind of reflecting that you know children are … the shining stars in in our lives,” he said.

It fits with the new marketing campaign, which is called “Watch Them Glow.” Nikic said the idea is to catch the attention of the modern parent — which there aren’t as many of these days.

There’s one big issue facing the children’s clothing industry: fewer children.

“Essentially since the Great Financial Crisis … the number of births in the U.S. has declined almost every year,” Nikic said.

More than 700,000 fewer kids were born last year than in 2007.

And there’s increased competition to sell tiny pants for those existing kids, with digitally native brands popping up and only so much parents are willing to pay.

“There's a lot of price sensitivity,” said Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail. “Parents don't always look for the absolute cheapest thing because they are focused on quality as well, but they are laser-focused on value.”

One of those value shoppers is Jessica Pokharel, who has a 10-year-old son and nine-month-old daughter. She looks for deals more now than when her first child was born.

“I'm more likely to buy things used … and then I want to resell it,” Pokharel said. “Let's say she has something nice, name-brand, resellable that she gets a stain on. I am working in the laundry room to get that out.”

Pokharel is part of the resale market for kid’s clothing, which has expanded and is yet another challenge for companies selling those tiny new pants.