By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

BEAR PROFILES DynaGen, Inc. Palomar Medical Technologies Inc. Designs Inc. Converse Inc. SystemSoft Corp. MAIN STORY Bulls and Bears

s goes Levi Strauss & Co., so goes Designs, a Needham-based retailer that sells mostly Levi's jeans in many of its stores.

With young customers identifying Levi's as their parents' blue jeans, and with many older jeans customers buying cheaper department-store brands, 1997 was a tough year for Levi's and for Designs.

On March 31, shares of Designs stock traded at 2, down 64 percent from the same day a year ago.

For the fiscal year ended in January, Designs lost $29.1 million on sales of $265.7 million, compared with a modest profit the previous fiscal year on sales of $289.6 million.

Despite a tough year that included layoffs and 33 store closings, there are glimmers of hope for the 122-store company.

Levi's has launched an advertising blitz aimed at baby boomers' children. As an icon brand, Levi's is a good bet to rebound, and any recovery should see Designs sharing the wealth, said Jay J. Meltzer, of LJR Redbook Research.

Meanwhile, Designs looks to lessen its dependence on Levi's and the chain's own private-label merchandise. A new retail format called Boston Trading Co., stocked with such names as Tommy Hilfiger and CK, seeks to be Designs' hipper version of the Gap. Designs says it's too early to evaluate this 11-store test. 'Fiscal 1997 was a very disappointing year,'' Designs chief executive Joel H. Reichman said recently. ''However, I am encouraged because I believe we have taken the difficult but necessary steps.''