Can you be as bearish about retail if the company that has almost half the dress shirt business in the country, the one that has more than half the neckwear in this country, the one that has more than 600 stores and is in Kohl's (KSS) (Cramer's Take), Wal-Mart (WMT) (Cramer's Take), Sears (SHLD) (Cramer's Take) and just about everyone else, tells you that things are booming?
That's what you are up against if you listen to the CEO of Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH) (Cramer's Take), Manny Chirico. His description of the environment out there, with all of his brands -- from Calvin Klein (high-end and low-) to Geoffrey Beane and Bass and Arrow and so many others -- just doesn't jibe with what others are saying about how weak the consumer is.
If anything, the question is, will the holiday season be a blowout?
It seems pretty counterintuitive given the home value loss, mortgage woes and unemployment, but why would he make this stuff up? Go look at his audited numbers from a week ago. Go listen to this Morgan Stanley conference points.
Go watch what he said last night on the show.
This is the most important apparel company in this country, and his statements are just too bullish to be as negative as you might think to be.
Just pointing it out.
Jim Cramer is co-founder and chairman of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. At the time of publication, Cramer had no positions in the stocks mentioned.
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