The Children’s Place Issues 2021 Annual ESG Report

SECAUCUS, N.J., Oct. 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Children’s Place, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCE), the largest pure-play children’s specialty apparel retailer in North America, today announced the release of its 2021 Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) Report. 

The 2021 ESG Report details the Company’s strategic approach to ESG.  It sets forth the progress made in fiscal 2021 on the Company’s environmental initiatives, including its science-based goals to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and its measurable targets to increase the use of more sustainable raw materials in products and to reduce the use of water and chemicals in its global supply chain. Some highlights from the Company’s 2021 ESG Report include: 

• A reduction in GHG emissions of 41% against a 2018 baseline in owned and leased operations (scope 1 and scope 2), exceeding the previously announced goal of 30% targeted for 2030.  
• A new GHG reduction goal of 50% for scope 1 and scope 2 market-based emissions by the end of 2030.
• Over two-thirds of the cotton fibers used in the Company’s apparel are now responsibly sourced with a goal of 100% responsibly sourced cotton by the end of fiscal 2025.
• The 2021 ESG Report highlights 16 key focus areas for the Company and details its measurable goals and progress related to a number of topics: climate and energy, raw materials, water stewardship, chemical management, waste and circularity, diversity, equity and inclusion, community, and supply chain compliance and worker well-being.

Adrian Sherman, Vice President, Environment & Social Responsibility, said, “We are proud of the progress we have made on the environmental and social goals highlighted in our 2021 ESG Report. We believe our efforts have the potential to unlock significant value and new opportunities for our business. While we realize there is much work to be done in achieving the goals we have set, we remain committed to continued progress for the benefit of our customers, our shareholders, our associates, and the communities we impact through our operations.”

The 2021 ESG Report details the Company’s continued commitment to social topics, including a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I). Jane Elfers, President and CEO said, “Our strong commitment is evident in our industry-leading gender diversity statistics. Over 85 percent of our customers are women and we are a woman-led Company; 87% of our workforce are women, with strong representation across every level of our organization, from our store associates to our Board of Directors. We believe our strong commitment to gender diversity gives us a competitive edge in the marketplace, and to reinforce our strong support for women, we have expanded our commitments this year with new goals to maintain representation of women in our overall workforce of 80% or over, and to maintain at least 50% representation of women in our corporate leadership.”

Women Representation in 2021
Category	Women
OVERALL WORKFORCE	87%
BOARD MEMBERS*	60%
SENIOR LEADERSHIP	50%
CORPORATE LEADERSHIP	57%
STORE MANAGEMENT	91%
PROMOTIONS OVERALL	93%
PROMOTIONS CORPORATE LEADERSHIP	61%
PROMOTIONS STORE MANAGEMENT	96%
NEW HIRES OVERALL	89%

*As of October 2022

The Company actively strives to ensure that its workplace includes a diverse range of perspectives and backgrounds at the Board of Director level, in senior leadership and throughout its management and associate base. The Company has a broad representation of races and ethnicities throughout the organization, with 67% of the Company’s workforce identifying as racially/ethnically diverse. This past year, the Company reinforced its commitment to ensure that its workforce is reflective of local demographics and the customers the Company serves by setting a new goal to double the representation of Black/African American associates at its U.S. corporate offices by 2025. 

The Children’s Place Board of Directors and its Committees have oversight responsibility for ESG matters, and the Company’s goals and initiatives are informed by the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standards, the GRI (formerly the Global Reporting Initiative) standards, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

To view its 2021 ESG Report, please visit the Company’s website at https://corporate.childrensplace.com, under the ESG tab.

About The Children’s Place

The Children’s Place is the largest pure-play children’s specialty apparel retailer in North America. The Company designs, contracts to manufacture, sells at retail and wholesale, and licenses to sell fashionable, high-quality merchandise predominantly at value prices, primarily under the proprietary “The Children’s Place”, “Place”, “Baby Place”, “Gymboree,” “Sugar & Jade” and, “PJ Place” brand names. The Company has online stores at www.childrensplace.com, www.gymboree.com, www.sugarandjade.com and www.pjplace.com, and as of July 30, 2022, the Company had 658 stores in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico and the Company’s six international franchise partners had 212 international points of distribution in 16 countries.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains or may contain forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements typically are identified by use of terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “plan,” “project,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate” and similar words, although some forward-looking statements are expressed differently. These forward-looking statements are based upon the Company’s current expectations and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and performance to differ materially. Some of these risks and uncertainties are described in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the “Risk Factors” section of its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 29, 2022. Included among the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and performance to differ materially are the risk that the Company will be unsuccessful in gauging fashion trends and changing consumer preferences, the risks resulting from the highly competitive nature of the Company’s business and its dependence on consumer spending patterns, which may be affected by changes in economic conditions, the risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business or the economy in general (including decreased customer traffic, schools adopting remote and hybrid learning models, closures of businesses and other activities causing decreased demand for our products and negative impacts on our customers’ spending patterns due to decreased income or actual or perceived wealth, and the impact of legislation related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including any changes to such legislation), the risk that the Company’s strategic initiatives to increase sales and margin are delayed or do not result in anticipated improvements, the risk of delays, interruptions and disruptions in the Company’s global supply chain, including resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic or other disease outbreaks, foreign sources of supply in less developed countries, more politically unstable countries, or countries where vendors fail to comply with industry standards or ethical business practices, including the use of forced, indentured or child labor, the risk that the cost of raw materials or energy prices will increase beyond current expectations or that the Company is unable to offset cost increases through value engineering or price increases, various types of litigation, including class action litigations brought under consumer protection, employment, and privacy and information security laws and regulations, the imposition of regulations affecting the importation of foreign-produced merchandise, including duties and tariffs, and the uncertainty of weather patterns. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they were made. The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Contact:  Investor Relations (201) 558-2400 ext. 14500