Sun Apparel, a leading jeans manufacturer, announced the
signing of NBA Hall-of-Famer Jonh Havlicek to represent Real Pro
jeans, targeted to men over 40. Havlicek joins Joe Greene and
Luis Tiant in the campaign, which debuts March 1995 under the
tagline, "When Men Were Men and Jeans Were Jeans" (Sun
Apparel)....Stride-Rite is making the "largest investment ever"
in its Keds brand with a $25M image campaign. Keds Senior
VP/Marketing Kate Bednarski, formerly of Nike: "We have the
greatest brand loyalty of anyone. The image just needs some
dusting off" (BRANDWEEK, 2/13).... Following the completion of
Nike's acquisition of Canstar, for C$27.50 a share, Nike Manager
of Investment Relations Rick Anguilla said there will be no
immediate management changes at Canstar, but that the focus this
winter will be on marketing (OTTAWA CITIZEN, 2/11)....S-K-I Ltd.,
the owner and operator of several major ski resorts, has hired an
investment adviser to help evaluate a possible merger or sale of
the company. S-K-I stock rose from 3 7/8 to 16 3/8 on Monday
(USA TODAY, 2/14)....Fresh off its purchase of athletic shoe
maker Ryka, L.A. Gear "will remain acquisition-minded in 1995,"
according to president Bill Benford (BRANDWEEK, 2/13 issue).