Robert Wildrick, CEO of Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, called apropos of today's column that spanked the company for refusing questions from analysts and not better explaining how it will cope with what looks like a U.S. recession. Wildrick:

-- Apologized for the fact that no executives returned my calls.

-- Said (good naturedly!), "I don't like being compared to a communist leader."

-- Said lawyers have discouraged the company from taking questions on their conference calls. Bank is the subject of shareholder lawsuits. Its lawyers are concerned not so much about conference-call queries from large investment houses as questions from short-sellers and litigants, he said. The lawsuits have no merit and amount to "extortion," he said.

"It isn't the analysts that we're afraid of. It's that other people will come in on the call, and they might be setting us up. And they [lawyers] don't want us to do that at this time."

-- Noted that shares in other retailers have fallen as well as Banks' shares. "The segment is not in favor now. The thing we have control over is our performance, and we try very hard to take care of our customers."

-- Defended the company's large inventory. "Part of our stategy has always been to carry a lot of sizes... If you're going to be in business you've got to have all of them...so that when you come in the store we have a good shot at having your goods. One of the things that has made us sucessful is we have sizes. We have a very high closure rate; it's like 93 or 95 percent. The only way to do that is stock up on key items."

-- Didn't really answer analyst Richard Jaffe's main question in the column. For the first time in years, costs are rising substantially in the places Bank makes its clothes. In the face of rising costs and an uncertain U.S. economy, how will the company maintain profits?

Wildrick noted that Bank's profits, profit margin, employment and other measures have improved to a very impressive degree since he took over in 1999. But what about profits going forward, in this challenging environment?

"It's a good academic question," he said. "But that's what management is here for."