Laid off from Carter's.

What Carter's layoffs have meant for employees

Carter's record makes more sense by job than by year. The fiscal 2005 10-K says the company had closed its domestic textile, printing, cutting, embroidery and sewing operations, along with all five of its own offshore sewing plants. Its October 2026 10-Q now describes sourcing substantially all of its products from third-party suppliers, primarily in Asia. The fiscal 2025 10-K sorts its roughly 15,400 employees into stores, corporate offices and distribution centers. Those are the jobs left on its own payroll, and the office, distribution and store actions on record since then fall on them.

Carter's has split its restructuring money differently from plan to plan. For the Shelton consolidation, the fiscal 2012 10-K expected about $13 million of recruiting and relocation costs in fiscal 2013 against $5 million of employee severance and other benefits. The fiscal 2020 restructuring ran the other way, with about $1.8 million of relocation and recruiting beside about $12.0 million of severance and termination benefits, its fiscal 2020 10-K shows. Those are company totals, and recruiting and relocation are one line. If you're offered a move and severance is the alternative, the two sets of terms are worth laying out together.

Stores are where most of the jobs are now. At the end of fiscal 2025, 12,180 employees worked in retail stores, against 1,650 in corporate offices and 1,570 in distribution centers. The 10-K describes the closing plan as primarily lease expirations, with new U.S. openings under the current store model substantially suspended, and the 10-Q shows U.S. closings running well ahead of openings through October 3, 2026. If your store is identified for closure, the expected closing date and your own last day are worth having in writing. If you're offered hours at another Carter's store, it's worth knowing that the U.S. store count has been falling.

Carter's framed the October 2025 office cut in cost terms. The third-quarter release said the actions would right size its cost structure and put the expected savings at about $35 million a year, and the 10-Q later credited reduced costs from those actions for part of a lower expense rate in the third quarter of fiscal 2026. The release also said the chief executive and the board had decided to reduce their 2026 compensation. If you're explaining an October 2025 exit to a future employer, the company's own words describe a cost structure decision across offices-based roles.

Severance on record has come in more than one piece. The April 2009 10-Q separated severance under an existing plan from special one-time benefits provided to affected employees, and the October 2025 release named outplacement services beside severance. If you're offered a package, plan severance, a one-time extra and outplacement can be separate items, so each is worth pricing on its own. Timing can matter as much. The release said the October 2025 costs would be paid in the first half of 2026, and an October 2026 10-Q note says substantially all of the rest was paid in the first two quarters of fiscal 2026. For anyone budgeting around a payout, the date belongs on that list.

The labels matter if you're working out which cut touched you. When Carter's reduced its corporate workforce in 2009, it defined that group as excluding retail district managers, hourly retail store employees and distribution center employees, and the 2025 filings speak of offices-based roles. Tracker rows sit under The William Carter Company, William Carter Co., Carter's, Carters Retail and OshKosh B'Gosh, including three Kentucky OshKosh rows from before the 2005 purchase. For anyone who worked in the two states with the most rows, Georgia with 14 of the 22 and California with 4, Georgia's unemployment rules and California's come next.

A sourced history of Carter's layoffs

• October 2025, about 300 office roles and more store closings

  Carter's third-quarter release set a target of about 300 office roles, or 15%, and raised its store closing goal from about 100. The plan reached staff October 27, the 8-K said, and an October 2026 10-Q note later recorded the restructuring as completed.

• 2020, staffing reorganization and over 100 planned store closures

  Carter's fiscal 2020 10-K lists reorganized staffing models, functions moved into the Atlanta headquarters and over 100 store closures planned by the end of fiscal 2021, with about $12.0 million of severance and other termination benefits.

• October 2012, Shelton, Connecticut, office folded into Atlanta

  On October 11 Carter's announced plans to fold Shelton's retail and finance operations into Atlanta, affecting about 175 employees, according to the fiscal 2012 10-K.

• March 2012, Hogansville, Georgia, distribution center closing

  Carter's told about 210 employees on March 14 that Hogansville would close as a larger Braselton center opened, the fiscal 2012 10-K said. A row in our tracker dated October 2013 lists 191 Hogansville jobs.

• April 2009, corporate cut and Barnesville distribution center closing

  Carter's told about 210 Barnesville employees on April 2 that the center would close, and about 150 corporate employees on April 21 of a cut that included moving most Oshkosh, Wisconsin, office work, its April 2009 10-Q said.

• February 2007, White House, Tennessee, distribution center closing

  The board approved closing the center that shipped OshKosh products, with the work going to other Carter's facilities and outside logistics firms, a February 2007 8-K said. Carter's expected about $3.8 million of severance and other employee costs.

• 2005, OshKosh purchase and sewing plant closings

  Carter's bought OshKosh on July 14, then closed its sewing plant in Choloma, Honduras, and announced plans to close the one in Uman, Mexico, by April 2006, the fiscal 2005 10-K said.

• 1999 to 2001, Georgia and Texas job losses

  About 240 former Barnesville workers lost their jobs to increased imports, federal officials found, Georgia Labor Department said in January 2000. Rows in our tracker list 350 Barnesville jobs in August 1999 and 482 in Harlingen, Texas, in 2001.

What to do if you're laid off from Carter's

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Carter's's biggest hubs: Georgia, California. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
• Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what Carter's's hub states run: Georgia, California, and every other state is here.
• Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
• Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
• Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.