In January I described our approach to raise our children as investors. We aspire to foster an entrepreneurial mindset of ingenuity, courage, and grit. By involving the children in the stock selection process they will learn how businesses earn money at a young age and may be more likely to seek opportunities to start their own businesses.
To teach a consistent investing process, we invest $200 for each child every three months. For their April investment, our children selected Carter’s, Inc. Our children know the main Carter’s brands – they’ve worn clothing from the Carter’s and OshKosh lines their entire lives. When they see a friend wearing OshKosh clothing, they may be reminded they own part of the company that designed and distributed the shirt or pants.
We own Carter’s because it has strong brands that are recognized by parent for their quality. Since parents or family members are usually making purchase decisions for their children, the children’s apparel market is far less fickle than the more fashion-focused teen retail industry. Carter’s maintains a strong wholesale distribution network through established retailers but has also been successful through the more profitable direct-to-consumer distribution (company branded stores and online sales). Moreover, Carter’s has significant opportunities to expand internationally.
Most importantly, Carter’s is the leader in a business that will likely never fall out of fashion. How could the clothing market for young children be fundamentally disrupted? We will continue to monitor the business’ progress, but, hopefully, our children will own Carter’s the company well beyond the time when our future grandchildren are wearing Carter’s brand clothing.