Carter's, Inc.

Welcome to Carter's first quarter fiscal 2025 earnings conference call. On the call are Doug Paladini, Chief Executive Officer and President, Richard Westenberger, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, Kendra Krugman, Chief Creative and Growth Officer, and Sean McHugh, Treasurer. Please note that today's call is being recorded. I'll now turn the call over to Mr. McHugh.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. We issued our first quarter 2025 earnings release earlier today. The release and presentation materials for today's call are available on our investor relations website at ir.carters.com. Note that statements on today's call about items such as the company's expectations and plans are forward-looking statements. For discussion of factors that could cause actual results to vary from those contained in the forward-looking statements, Please see our most recent SEC filings and the earnings release and presentation materials posted on our website. In these materials, you will also find reconciliations of various non-GAAP financial measurements referenced during this call. After today's prepared remarks, we will take questions as time allows. I will now turn the call over to Doug.

Thank you, Sean. Good morning, everyone. After almost two decades at VANS and the past three years building my own practice as a consultant, board member, and executive coach, it feels just great to be back in a brand leadership role with Carter's, one of America's most iconic companies. I'm sincerely grateful to the Carter's board of directors for the faith they have placed in me to return Carter's to growth. And I very much look forward to earning the trust of all of our valuable stakeholders, including consumers, employees, key accounts, and yes, our investors. At Vans, I was able to help The brand grow from 350 million in sales to more than 4 billion. From a mostly California skate brand to a global lifestyle brand, and from an experiment for VF into the company's leading source of revenue and profits. Along the way, we were able to dramatically deepen consumer connectivity and loyalty, grow our brand equity and P&L performance commensurately, and expand D2C to about two-thirds of our global business top line. all of which applies directly to what I hope to achieve here at Carter's. My remit is clear. To return Carter's to growth, and not just any growth, by the way, but quality, sustainable, long-term, and accretive growth. We are not going to buy sales. Our goal is to earn them. We're not going to BOGO our way to sales growth. Our goal is to increase profitability. Our ideal is to grow Carter's consistently and sustainably. April 3rd was my first day of work. I'm well underway in my analysis of the company and our potential opportunities. Based on what I have gleaned so far, I can tell you that our drive for maximum financial efficiency must be balanced with strategic and surgical investment. Our historic focus on maintaining a certain level of operating margins must be paired with a focus on making quality products that resonate. Our transactional efforts must be equaled by emotional loyalty drivers And above all else, we must honor and revere that most human of life's milestones, raising children. As I get up to speed on our business and assess what must be true for a return to growth, we are going to suspend forward-looking guidance at this time. I strongly believe in the tenet that we do what we say, and I'm assessing what is required to meet that commitment. In addition, the current tariff situation has introduced substantial uncertainty greatly complicating our ability to accurately predict Carter's financial outlook. Our leadership team is already hard at work on a clear, simplified, and focused strategy of priorities and commensurate investments with the goal of returning our brands to accretive growth as soon as possible. And I look forward to articulating that strategy soon. I will now turn the call over to Richard, who has done commendable work bridging the gap between Carter's leaders to walk you through our first quarter results.