Kids clothing retailer The Children’s Place has launched a new brand platform, “It’s a Yes Day,” that celebrates kids’ confidence, individuality and self-expression, per details shared with Marketing Dive. The platform will provide a strategic foundation across marketing, digital and retail operations, and is informed by shifting consumer dynamics that see kids increasingly influencing clothing decisions.
“Kids are shaping what brands they want to interact with, and parents are leaning into it. The new family time is the family making decisions about everyday things together as a unit, where the child has a much more say in those choices than they might have had in previous generations,” explained Smeeta Khetarpaul, senior vice president and head of marketing at The Children’s Place.
Khetarpaul joined The Children's Place in March 2025 after stints in marketing at Crocs, BrightFarms and Danone Waters with a clear remit: to bring the brand, which launched in 1969, back into the conversation with families. Along with embracing how family dynamics are shifting, The Children’s Place leaned into its legacy of providing great fashion at an accessible price.
“We didn't want to walk away from that heritage. That's what made our brand great and iconic,” the executive said. “How do we take the heritage of our brand and connect it with the dynamics of modern parenting?”
The result is “It’s A Yes Day,” a brand platform that focuses on authentic moments of confidence, movement and individuality. The effort began rolling out this month across digital, social, e-commerce and performance marketing channels, and includes influencer and creator partnerships, retail activations, seasonal product storytelling and other customer engagement initiatives.
“Parents want their kids to flourish. They want kids to be kids. They want to give them independence, freedom of movement, freedom of expression, so we reflected that in our creative, instead of the traditional way of showing children's clothing or accessories, [which] is from a parent's perspective or from an adult's perspective,” Khetarpaul said of the platform’s creative approach.
The platform will be applied across all of the brand’s touchpoints, including stores that company executives have previously described as an “orphan channel.” Campaign imagery is heavy on blue skies that correspond to The Children’s Place’s longtime brand color and features kids on bikes, skateboards and scooters at a skate park and other play areas.
“We're showing kids as they are. We're showing kids moving, laughing, joyful, interacting with their toys. We are making kids the hero of our story,” the executive said. “The brand and the clothes are the sidekick to the kid.”
As part of the new platform, The Children’s Place is working to be more direct and community-based with consumers, rather than simply transactional. Crocs, Khetarpaul’s previous employer, tapped into its brand loyalists and cultural influencers to turnaround the once-maligned brand. The Children’s Place’s new influencer and social strategy will play out as the year progresses.
“I think that will be a huge unlock in creating mass awareness for our brand, bringing our brand back in conversation, creating high relevance,” Khetarpaul said. “We know that when you do that, it impacts business results through traffic… that's the idea from an overall business perspective: build the communities and that creates commerce.”
The Children’s Place this week made several senior leadership moves that are intended to help the company deliver strong performance, including the appointment of Lisa Pillette, previously global chief marketing officer of Fossil Group, as chief customer officer. The company in Q3 2025 saw comparable retail sales decrease 5.4% amid tariff pressure and periods of volatility associated with its strategic transformation. “It’s A Yes Day” represents the company’s new foundation as it seeks a new period of growth.
“‘It's a Yes Day’ is not just a campaign, it's a platform for us, and that distinction is really important for me, because it's building a foundation. It's not a moment in time. It's giving us a runway to build partnerships, to share experiences, to tell stories over seasons,” Khetarpaul said.
