My wife Eileen used to circle pages in the Newport News catalog with a green felt-tip pen. Pants she liked, a blouse on sale, a sweater she figured she could get for around twenty bucks if it hit the markdown page. Frankly, that catalog was a fixture in our mailbox in Quincy from sometime in the mid-90s until it just stopped showing up. If you landed on this page, you probably noticed the same thing and you want a straight answer. Here it is.
The short version: Newport News is gone, and it has been for a while
Newport News started life as Avon Fashions, the clothing arm of the Avon cosmetics outfit. Spiegel bought it in 1993 and folded it into its catalog stable, which by then included names a lot of folks remember — Eddie Bauer, the works. For about ten years it ran fine. By the early 2000s, Newport News was actually outselling the Spiegel catalog itself.
Then the wheels came off. Spiegel filed Chapter 11 in March 2003. The trade press at the time pointed at the in-house credit card business as the real culprit — default rates north of 17 percent will sink anybody. Newport News was sold off in 2004 and bounced around under outside owners until the brand quietly faded out around the mid-2010s. There is no working catalog, no active website, and as of this writing in 2026, no sign that anyone has bought the trademark and revived it. I checked.
So if you came here hoping I had a phone number where you could request a fresh copy, I don't. Nobody does. What I do have is a short list of catalogs that are still sending paper to the mailbox, still take a phone order, and frankly hit a similar price point.
Why people miss it
Look, Newport News had a niche. Dressy enough that you could buy a blazer for a wedding, casual enough that you could buy a pair of stretch jeans, and the price tags were almost always under fifty bucks. Eileen used to say it was the catalog where she didn't have to flinch at the total before she handed over the order form. That combination — styled, photographed nicely, but priced like a department-store sale — is harder to find now. Most catalogs have drifted upmarket because postage and printing aren't getting any cheaper, and the cheap end of the rack went to the discount websites I won't be naming here.
Catalogs that fill a similar slot
I went through what's still actually being mailed in 2026, cross-referenced with what Newport News shoppers used to buy, and these are the names I'd send Eileen to if she asked — in roughly the order I'd hand them over.
1. Boston Proper
Still alive, still mailing a real catalog, still putting their stuff online at bostonproper.com. They sit a notch above where Newport News did on price — figure dresses in the eighty-to-one-fifty range, not the twenty-to-fifty range — but the styling is the closest cousin. Contemporary cuts, plenty of swim and resort wear, the kind of thing you'd pack for a week in Florida. Order the Boston Proper catalog.
2. NorthStyle
NorthStyle is still in business and still sending a paper catalog as of this year. Casual women's tops, sweaters, dresses, accessories. Pricing is sensible — lots of items in the thirty-to-sixty-dollar zone, regular sale cycles, and they run promo codes most months. If Newport News was your everyday-clothes catalog, this is the closest match on price. Order the NorthStyle catalog.
3. Roaman's
If you wore Newport News in plus sizes, Roaman's is the one to know. Sizes 12W and up, the full range — sportswear, dresses, swim, intimates — and they run sales constantly. Frankly, if you wait two weeks and use a coupon you'll almost never pay full price. Order the Roaman's catalog.
4. Appleseed's
Appleseed's leans more classic than Newport News did — think New England, twin-set energy — but the price point is right and the catalog still arrives on schedule. Owned by Bluestem Brands, which went through its own Chapter 11 back in 2020 and came out the other side under Cerberus, so it's been operating steady since. Petites, talls, plus, regulars all covered. Order the Appleseed's catalog.
5. Soft Surroundings — with an asterisk
I want to be honest about this one. The original Soft Surroundings closed all 44 of its retail stores by February 2024 after a Chapter 11 filing the year before. The brand itself was bought by Coldwater Creek in late 2023 and now runs as an online and catalog operation only. The clothes and the soft, comfortable angle are still there, but the pricing is on the higher side — closer to a hundred bucks for a top — and the sale rack is where the actual values live. Worth a look, but go in eyes open. Order the Soft Surroundings catalog.
6. Talbots
Talbots is more upscale than Newport News ever was, but if you used Newport News for blazers, work pants, and the occasional dressy piece, Talbots covers that gap. Look for the red-tag clearance — that's where they get into Newport News territory on price. Order the Talbots catalog.
7. Anthony Richards
This is the one I'd point you toward if price is the only thing that matters. Everyday women's clothes, pant-and-skirt sets, easy tops, and the prices stay low — a lot of items under twenty-five bucks. Not the most cutting-edge styling, but it's honest goods at honest money. Order the Anthony Richards catalog.
A few practical notes before you order
Couple of things I'd tell anyone who hasn't ordered from a paper catalog in a few years:
- Free shipping that isn't free. A lot of these catalogs run a "free shipping" promo with a forty- or fifty-dollar minimum. If your order is thirty-eight dollars, you're either adding a pair of socks you don't need or paying nine bucks to ship one blouse. Pick a side.
- Watch the sale cycle. Most of these brands run a clearance push in late January and again in late July. If you're not in a rush, that's when twenty-dollar tops show up.
- Don't get suckered into a membership. Several of these catalogs push a paid "VIP" or "rewards" club at checkout that auto-renews. Read what you're clicking. If you don't want a recurring charge, don't sign up for one. Frankly, half the time the regular sale price beats the member price anyway.
- Save the catalog. Order by phone or online, but keep the paper book on the coffee table. Eileen swears she finds things flipping pages that she'd never have clicked on a website, and I have to admit she's right.
Bottom line
Newport News isn't coming back. Whoever owns the trademark, if anyone still does, isn't doing anything with it. But the slot it filled — affordable, styled, mailable women's clothing — is still being filled by half a dozen catalogs that are very much in business in 2026. Pick one or two from the list above, request the catalog, see what shows up. If it isn't your style, the worst you've spent is whatever it cost them to put a stamp on it.
And if none of them clicks, you can always browse the rest of what's mailing right now over at Catalogs.com. Plenty of choices, and the request is free.
