What to do when clothing sales lag? Get naked, of course. In an effort to revive the brand, whose sales appear to be in a slump and whose image has been recently tarnished somewhat by employee complaints, Abercrombie & Fitch is reviving its racy A+F Quarterly, which was last published in 2003.
The mag-alog, shot by famed fashion photog Bruce Weber, caused all sorts of outrage (buff bodies, oh my), back in its heyday. But that was almost a decade ago, so the company's target demo were mere tykes at the time. Not much shocks said customers these days, so it will be interesting to see what kind of ripple effect boys with the rippling torsos wreak on sales. Our guess is not too much. After all, if it's eye candy folks are after, there would be more traffic in stores, where topless hunks greet "guests" upon arrival.
For $10 a pop, however, you're welcome to ogle at home: The 176-page quarterly is available for pre-order now. (Cleverly, advance copies must be picked up in-store, adding a little extra incenvtive to get bodies in the stores.)
