FOOL CONFERENCE CALL SYNOPSIS*
By Debora Tidwell (MF Debit)

RG Barry Corporation <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: RGB)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: RGB)") end if %>
13405 Yarmouth Road N.W.
Pickerington, OH 43147
(614) 864-6400

UNION CITY, Ca., October 22, 1996/FOOLWIRE/ --- RG Barry released results for the third quarter of 1996 late last week. Last year they entered the fourth quarter at a break-even level. This year, they are very pleased that they enter the fourth quarter with $2.7 million in after tax profits or $0.27 per share. Net income for the third quarter was $4,820,000, an increase of 8% over net income of $4,465,000 in the prior year. Per share results were $0.50 this year versus $0.49 last year.

Sales for the first 3 quarters of 1996 increased by 15.6% to $81.2 million from $70.2 million last year. Third quarter sales were $45.2 million, slightly above $44.4 million reported last year. Their operating earnings for the first 9 months increased sharply from a year ago due to the excellent results they are achieving in their comfort footwear manufacturing operations and the positive impact from markedly increased Barry/Vesture sales.

COMFORT FOOTWARE AREA. They continue to be very pleased with their results. This is a very strong business with a solid earnings base. They are the market leader in comfort footwear for at and around the home and they intend to maintain that leadership on a global basis. They continue to ehnance their manufacturing operations and closely monitor and control their costs, all of which contributes to the bottom line.

They are also market sensitive and constantly in touch with their customers' emerging tastes and needs and respond with new fresh product that is responsive to those tastes and needs. This year, approximately 1/3 of their product offering is new product.

EUROPEAN DIVISION. On September 25th they announced the establishment of a new division -- Barry Europe -- to support a major expansion effort in the UK and the mainland European continent for their comfort footwear products. They have been very encouraged by the positive results of recent market testing in stores in France, supercenter stores in England, and other mass-market retail outlets. They believe that building strong partnerships with Europe's leading mass-market retailers offers them an excellent opportunity for significant growth in their international comfort footwear business. They will be investment spending in the second half of this year to support this major expansion effort in Europe in 1997.

BARRY/VESTURE AND THERMAL COMFORT PRODUCTS. In last year's fourth quarter, they began shipping their new Pyrex Portables with Microcorl to Corning. In order to do the initial fill of Corning's product inventory pipeline, they shipped above normal quantities and that continued into the first half of this year. Now that the Corning inventory pipeline has been filled, they have been shipping the product at more normal levels in the second half. That was the case in the third quarter and will be the case again in the fourth quarter. They are pleased with the result of their relationship with Corning and are actively working both with Corning and other companies to develop new Microcorl product applications which, depending on market testing, will be the basis for new thermal products in 1997 and beyond.

UPDATE ON TESTING OF NEW MICROCORL PRODUCT. They are in testing with a major national pizza chain of a pizza delivery system utilizing Microcorl. The regional and national product testing phase has been completed and has been successful. The product works to specifications and to their standards and expectations. The pizza chain has decided to expand its market testing to include an additional study to determine consumer attitudes on the differential advantage that is gained from the enhanced quality of pizzas made possible by the Microcorl delivery system. They are seriously considering the possibility of featuring the system as a benefit of dry, hot pizza delivered to the home in their national television advertising. This is a major corporate decision and requires additional feedback from the consumer as to the consumer's perceived preference for the product delivered in this manner. The units also cost money and the economic payback has to come through either the ability to charge a higher price for higher quality or to take share away from competitors with a lesser quality product.

RG Barry expects this market test program will run into 1997 and, as they previously stated, assuming a successful completion of this test, they expect meaningful revenues to begin in 1997 from this product as well as other new Microcorl thermal products. They intend to be the leader in world-class, state-of-the-art thermal retention technology and to continue to innovate with new and exciting thermal products. This is a technology with wide application potential and they will systematically pursue that potential to maximize its value to the company.

In the question and answer section, the analysts did not seem to like the delays in the testing with the pizza company. RG Barry management responded that they had upheld their end of the deal and had provided product that worked and met specifications and that the delays were out of their hands. They also indicated that they understood the reasons for the delays, that it was a significant investment for the pizza chain and they had to make sure it was an investment that gave them an advantage or payback.

Another analyst got feedback from a local pizza franchisee about the pizza delivery bags and they seemed very excited about the product and saw it as a distinct competitive advantage. They asked RG Barry if they had approached other pizza restaurant companies to sell the bags. The company responded that right now, the company they were working with has an exclusive on the bags, but they have to purchase a certain quantity of bags within a certain time period and have to agree to use the product branding on their product to retain the exclusive rights to use the bags. Right now RG Barry is approaching other restaurant companies that feature home delivery. And, if the pizza company does not meet the specifications of the contract, they will expand to other pizza restaurant companies.

FOURTH QUARTER PROJECTIONS. In the last conference call, they said that their operating plan for the fourth quarter anticipates somewhat lower earnings than a year ago, reflecting the year-to-year sales adjustments discussed earlier. They also said that the record earnings pace anticipated for the year as a whole, if achieved, would trigger a management performance incentive bonus payout which would be accrued in the fourth quarter. Their strong performance to date continues to indicate that this anticipated payout will be made.

HOW THEY VIEW THE POTENTIAL OF THE DIVISIONS. There is no question that the new products with Microcorl have incredible potential. The core business has been looked upon as a mature, no growth market. Barry/Vesture has been looked upon as the company maker and hope for the future. And, indeed they are investing in Barry/Vesture's significant future potential.

But, some very exciting things have been happening in their core business and, in fact it has a great deal more vitality than is widely perceived and the comfort footwear segment in an international context is a growth business for them with the potential for further enhanced earnings from the benefit of the efficiencies they are developing and implementing in their manufacturing operations.

They made and will continue to make significant changes in their manufacturing operations. They have implemented advanced techniques such as modular manufacturing that are increasing productivity while retaining high quality and improving profitability. Their market share in the comfort footwear business continues its incremental rate of expansion.

They are the leader in this market segment both in terms of market share and quality and intend to keep it that way. They are marketing a growing percentage of their comfort footwear products at higher prices, which also contributes to the improvement in their bottom line. They are opening international markets that are at least as big as the domestic business.

The essense of RG Barry is their developed expertise in specialty retailing methodologies and their ability to develop and successfully bring a wide variety of new products to the retail marketplace, both domestically and internationally. Therefore, they believe both businesses have good growth potential.

* A Fool conference call synopsis represents an effort to highlight the salient points of a conference call and should not be taken as an authoritative accounting or transcription of the entire event. Note: Statements made by a company other than historical information may constitute forward-looking statements for which the company can claim protection under the Safe Harbor Act. Please consult the company's filings with the SEC for information on risk factors which might cause actual results to differ materially from the information contained in these forward-looking statements.