What Happened to the Spiegel Catalog

If you have been searching for a Spiegel catalog request, wondering is Spiegel catalog still in business, or asking what happened to the Spiegel catalog - here is the honest answer. Spiegel is no longer publishing. The brand quietly went dark in 2019 under its last owner, Patriarch Partners. The old spiegel.com storefront is inactive, no new print catalog has been mailed since, and there is no catalog-request line to call. If you still have a Spiegel catalog on your shelf, it is the last one.

Spiegel was one of the great names in American mail-order. Founded in Chicago in 1865 by Joseph Spiegel, a Prussian immigrant and Confederate prisoner of war, it started as a small home furnishings shop. In 1905 Joseph's son Arthur pushed the family into catalog and installment credit - two innovations that defined the modern direct-mail industry. For most of the 20th century Spiegel was a household name, mailing millions of women's fashion catalogs a year alongside its home and furniture books. The company filed Chapter 11 in March 2003, was reorganized, sold, and reorganized again, and after Patriarch Partners took control in the 2010s the brand slowly wound down. By 2019 the catalog was gone.

The good news for anyone still searching for the Spiegel look - stylish women's dresses, denim, swim, travel wear, and luxury-fabric separates at accessible catalog pricing - is that a handful of classic women's mail-order houses are still very much alive and still mailing free print catalogs on request. Below are the six closest alternatives to Spiegel, matched on style tier, price point, size range, and the printed-catalog shopping experience.

Top Alternatives Still Mailing Free Catalogs

Coldwater Creek

Coldwater Creek is the single closest alternative to Spiegel. Founded in 1984 and re-launched in 2015 after its own restructuring, Coldwater Creek carries a full range of women's dresses, tops, denim, swim, and travel wear in the exact style register Spiegel occupied - polished, feminine, sized for real women, priced in the same mid-market band. The Coldwater Creek catalog is mailed free on request, includes petite and plus-size ranges, and the online storefront at coldwatercreek.com carries the same assortment for shoppers who want to browse before the catalog arrives. If you loved Spiegel's dresses and Signature Luxury Fabric Collection, this is your first replacement to try.

J.Jill

J.Jill is a 1959-founded contemporary women's brand now with 200+ stores and a still-active free print catalog. The book leans slightly more casual than Spiegel - easy tunics, jersey knits, wide-leg pants, ponte separates - but hits the same customer: a woman shopping for dressier everyday pieces, comfortable travel wear, and versatile layering. Sizes include misses, petites, and Wearever plus. Request the free J.Jill catalog by mail and you will typically receive the seasonal and holiday editions automatically.

Talbots

Talbots is the classic-American-women's-brand alternative to Spiegel. Founded in 1947 in Hingham, Massachusetts, Talbots still publishes a monthly-ish print catalog covering blazers, dresses, denim, sweaters, and accessories at a slightly more upscale price point than late-era Spiegel. If you were shopping Spiegel for tailored work pieces and dresses for church, brunch, or travel, Talbots is the closest fit. Free catalog request available at talbots.com/catalogs, and orders can be placed by phone, mail, or online.

Appleseed's

Appleseed's is a Bedford Fair sister brand under the Bluestem Direct portfolio that carries a Spiegel-similar range of classic women's separates, dresses, denim, and holiday-occasion pieces at value pricing. The catalog is mailed free by request, ships from the same Wisconsin fulfillment center as several other traditional women's catalogs, and skews toward the 50+ shopper who liked Spiegel's fit and price point.

Norm Thompson

Norm Thompson is a Bluestem sister catalog covering women's apparel, travel wear, home, and gifts - the mail-order-generalist tradition Spiegel started in 1865. The catalog is a good fit for the Spiegel shopper who wanted travel-friendly, easy-care women's clothing alongside occasional home and gift pieces. Free print catalog by mail request, established mail-order supply chain, and consistent fit season to season.

Draper's & Damon's

Draper's & Damon's is another classic mature-women's mail-order catalog with a Spiegel-adjacent assortment: dresses, blouses, casual separates, and travel wear at value pricing. Free print catalog available on request, size range through 2X-3X, and a consistent fit that Spiegel customers tend to recognize. A good pick if you are ordering multiple alternatives to compare.

How to Request an Alternative Catalog

Requesting a free women's fashion catalog through Catalogs.com takes about two minutes. Pick any of the brands above from our clothing catalogs section, click the green "Request this Catalog" button on the brand's page, and fill in your name and mailing address. There is no fee, no credit card, and no obligation. The catalog is dropped in the mail from the brand's fulfillment center and typically arrives in 2 to 4 weeks.

Most former Spiegel shoppers we hear from request Coldwater Creek, J.Jill, and Appleseed's together - three catalogs on the coffee table gives you the best cross-section of what Spiegel used to cover across price tiers, from casual jersey to dressier separates. If you have moved recently, use your current address; catalog mailers do not forward through USPS change-of-address the way first-class mail does.

A note on spelling: Spiegel is often searched as "speigel" or "spiegal" or "spiegels catalog" - and the brand's own tagline over the years used both the singular and possessive forms. If you have been searching under any of those variants and this page came up, you are in the right place. The catalog you remember is gone, but the alternatives above will feel familiar the moment the first one arrives in your mailbox.

Why Print Catalogs Still Matter

Women's mail-order is one of the categories where a physical catalog genuinely earns its place. Fit is hard to judge from a phone screen - the drape of a jersey dress, the rise of a denim pant, the weight of a travel jacket, the way a Wearever knit falls on a petite versus a misses versus a plus figure - these are things you actually want to see printed at size, on a range of body types, with a clear size chart on the facing page. That is exactly what Coldwater Creek, J.Jill, Talbots, Appleseed's, Norm Thompson, and Draper's & Damon's still do well.

There is also the browsing experience. Spiegel customers were, on average, women 45 and up who liked to shop at their own pace, mark pages, and call in an order or type in an item number rather than scroll infinite feeds. None of the current fast-fashion apps replicate that. A mailed catalog does. And for the classic mid-market women's fashion lane specifically - dresses, denim, luxury fabrics, swim, and travel wear - the printed book is still where the strongest assortment lives.

Finally, women's mail-order is one of the few apparel categories where the paper catalog is still a primary customer-acquisition channel for the brands themselves - which means the books are thick, the assortment is real, and the offers inside are competitive. Whether you knew Spiegel as the Chicago catalog founded in 1865, as the Signature Luxury Fabric Collection catalog of the 2000s, or simply as the women's-clothing book you had been getting for years, the alternatives above will feel familiar the moment the first one lands in your mailbox.

Request any of the free women's fashion catalogs featured above from the Catalogs.com clothing section - no charge, no card, no obligation.