Carter’s, Inc. the largest branded marketer in North America of apparel exclusively for babies and young children, today reported its second quarter fiscal 2022 results.

“After a strong start to the year, our sales slowed in the second quarter,” said Michael D. Casey, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “In 2021, the United States government provided unprecedented stimulus payments and support to families with young children to help them recover from the pandemic. The absence of that support this year, together with the surge in gas prices and inflation, have weighed on consumers’ demand for our brands.

“Since the pandemic began, year-over-year comparisons have been affected by historic challenges and the related disruption to the lives of families with young children. Our performance relative to the pre-pandemic period reflects our progress increasing the profitability of Carter’s. By that measure, our earnings are significantly higher in 2022 and have been driven by the structural improvements made to our business since 2019.

“Those improvements include the rationalization of lower margin product choices, closure of less productive stores, investment in inventory management and pricing capabilities, reduction in promotions and improved price realization. These changes enabled Carter’s to achieve record earnings in 2021.

“We have revised our outlook for the balance of the year to reflect the trends in our business, and market risks related to inflation and related impact on consumer demand.

“We are focused on mitigating the effects of the current retail environment, including reducing inventory commitments and discretionary spending. We plan to continue investing in our direct-to-consumer, merchandising, brand marketing, and pricing capabilities which we believe will enable us to achieve our longer-term growth objectives.”