Despite a rocky year struggling to maintain early post-pandemic buying momentum, The Children's Place (PLCE) retains a firm corner on the children's clothing market.
The company founded out of Secaucus, N.J., in 1969 has a market cap of $490 million and is a mainstay in suburban shopping centers all over the country.
It is, in many people's minds, the go-to place to get clothes for infants and young children.
But as most apparel companies know all too well, success in one corner of the market will not necessarily transfer over to other demographics.
With Generation Z going after other trends, Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) recently tried following the millennials who grew up wearing the brand's polos in the mid-2000s into adulthood with new store concepts aimed at 25- to 35-year-olds.
The Children's Place But Make It Adult
While its reasons for doing it are different, The Children's Place is following a similar trajectory and launching a sleep- and loungewear brand designed for millennials and Generation Z buyers.
Launched this week, the new PJ Place collection includes pajama sets, robes, thermal clothing, slippers and socks and other loungewear items at a price point ranging from $10.95 to $69.95.
The concept evolved from the matching family pajamas that The Children's Place already offered. These sets are particularly popular during the holidays for family Christmas cards and Christmas Day outfits.
"While our current adult sleepwear assortment focuses almost exclusively on matching family looks, we recognized we had an opportunity to expand our adult sleepwear assortments to appeal directly to the Millennial and Gen Z customer by introducing new fabrics, silhouettes and a touch of whimsy," company President Jane Elfers said in a statement.
The Children's Place Inc.
A Bumpy But Ultimately Optimistic Road For The Children's Place
Don't expect to find it in stores as the collection will be sold exclusively online at PJPlace.com and be marketed by the likes of Khloé Kardashian, Kris Jenner and TV personality Tyler Cameron.
The new line is being presented as a cozy way to lounge around at home.
Jenner and Kardashian will, for the second year in a row, also appear in The Children's Place holiday collection.
With the pandemic pushing many people toward more casual dressing, both loungewear and athleisure have been some of the most rapidly-expanding categories — the latter is expected to grow by $13.36 billion at a CAGR rate of 6% between 2021 and 2025.
While a single line from The Children's Place is unlikely to unseat big industry players such as L Brands (LB) and Jockey, its appearance indicates that the brand wants to expand its market share in this category.
The company has had a turbulent few years — after a pandemic-related dip in sales observed for most apparel, a post-pandemic boon in purchases brought shares to $113 near the end of 2021.
Shares are now at $38 as inflation and post-pandemic recovery is once again dipping into how much children's clothing people buy.
"Many kids needed lots of new things last year after not attending in-person classes for quite a while due to stay-at-home education in many areas," Paul Price writes for TheStreet's Real Money. "That made for a windfall profit for PLCE in fiscal 2021 when final earnings per share tallied a record $13.40. It was clear that that number would not be attainable this year in the absence of stimulus and child tax credit payments."
