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THE COMPANY (Details)	Dec. 31, 2011
Company [Abstract]
Number of Carter's locations	359
Number of OshKosh locations	170
Number of international retail stores	65

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Represents the number of stores.

No definition available.

Name:	cri_NumberOfStores2
Namespace Prefix:	cri_
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Represents the number of international retail stores.

No definition available.

Name:	cri_NumberOfStores3
Namespace Prefix:	cri_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
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Represents the number of stores.

No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
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