A&F Quarterly: Abercrombie Bringing Back Controversial Magazine (PHOTO)

Abercrombie & Fitch is bringing its A&F Quarterly back to US stores, Portfolio reports. First launched in 1997, the mix of articles and partially-nude models was considered totally scandalous. It was pulled from the stores in December 2003, but come July 17, shoppers will be able to pick up a copy in Abercrombie outposts.

The new edition of the Quarterly will hopefully help sales, which were down 23 percent last year. Abercrombie did a test-run with the new Quarterly in London's shops last year that was evidently successful. The brand is also a "player on the social media front--its Facebook page has more than 1 million fans, its Twitter feed has a modest 2,323 followers (although some individual stores have their own feed), and a MySpace page keeps listeners updated on in-store music," writes Portfolio. And, of course, there are the shirtless male models perched outside the doors at the chain's Fifth Avenue store in NYC. They're probably good for business.

Here's one of our favorite A&F Quarterly covers, starring Heidi Klum in 2002: