Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 27, 1991                   TAG: 9102270158
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CARRIE MASON-DRAFFEN NEWSDAY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SWISS ARMY KNIFE NOW AVAILABLE IN PASTEL COLORS

In an effort to coax more women to buy the classic tool, recognized by its red handle, a U.S. distributor is marketing knives in colors with names more evocative of makeup. The knives are now sold in canary, sky, mint, camel, ivory, frost and blush.

Swiss army knives are traditionally a gift item and are most often purchased by women for male relatives and boyfriends, said Andrew Dahl, customer service manager for Precise International, the company that is the North American importer of knives made by the Swiss company Wenger.

Precise is hoping that women will find the knives prettier in pink and that more will buy them for themselves as well.

The recession has boosted sales, Precise says, attributing the gain to the appeal of the knife's multiple functions. Sales for the last six months of 1990 were up 70 percent, or 200,000 units, from the same period a year earlier.

The Swiss knife, which has been the official Swiss army issue since 1908, costs from $20 to $95. The standard Swiss Army knife has a main blade, can opener, scissors, nail file, toothpick, tweezers and a corkscrew. Some knives have up to 17 tools.