West Boylston, MA (PRWEB) September 29, 2008
With same-sex marriage and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights continuing to be hot-button topics this election season on both national and state levels, it’s eye-opening to realize that OutVite.com, the leading online purveyor of stationery to the GLBT community, is currently celebrating its fifth anniversary in business.
“Five years may not seem like a long time to some people,” says Joanne Laipson, a founder and vice president of OutVite. “But in the e-commerce world where so many businesses seem to rise and fall in a matter of moments, that’s real longevity, and even more so for a business that some sectors of the population might still believe is controversial.”
http://www.OutVite.com was launched November 2003 after a group of gay and lesbian employees of eInvite.com, a leading online stationery retailer, approached that company’s President and CEO, Micah Chase, with the goal of offering quality stationery products to computer-savvy GLBT consumers in a comfortable shopping environment. “We have a very passionate, concerned, diverse, and talented staff,” says Chase. “The idea fit right in with our company’s values.”
Those values–including a commitment to quality and service, a dedication to sharing and treasuring life’s special moments, and an awareness of the incomparable joys of family life regardless of how family is defined–have been evident from the start on OutVite.com. The website continues to offer its customers an ever-expanding range of personal stationery selections, featuring wedding and commitment ceremony invitations, thank you notes, and custom napkins and coasters; themed party invitations; birth and adoption announcements; children’s party invitations; pet announcements; and holiday cards and invitations, including photo cards; and personal stationery.
One key element of the OutVite.com website is the opportunity it offers visitors to customize the invitation designs they select through the site’s patented CheckMate? proof approval technology. Once customers select an invitation style, they can personalize all the details and choose from a wide selection of fonts and ink colors, then see an actual digital proof, ready for their review and approval, before placing an order.
“That range of products and level of service leads to satisfied customers,” says Joanne Laipson. “But what has built an ever deeper loyalty for OutVite among our audience has been our dedicated support for the GLBT community, especially when it comes to marriage equality.”
On November 13, 2003, the same month OutVite.com debuted, the State of Massachusetts, where the company is based, legalized same-sex marriage. “We were proud and fortunate to be the first company of its kind to offer same-sex marriage invitations,” Laipson says. “And we’re delighted to see public opinion and other state courts, most recently in California this year, catching up with what we knew was right all along. It’s all part of our commitment to setting the trend and staying the course. We couldn’t be happier to be sharing our company anniversary with the anniversary of same-sex marriage rights in our home state.”
Other vendors may have jumped on the bandwagon, but OutVite.com still enjoys a reputation as first and best in its field. The company has enjoyed positive coverage in local print media from the Sacramento Bee to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette; national newspapers including the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and USA Today; broadcast media including National Public Radio and Fox News; and, of course, within the GLBT media.
Meanwhile, from its Worldwide Web beginnings, OutVite has grown not only to be the largest online vendor of GLBT stationery but also to become available in fine retail stationery stores nationwide through the company’s partnership with its manufacturer, Checkerboard Ltd, a leading producer of fine social stationery. “We are proud,” says Micah Chase, “that, as it enters its next five years, OutVite.com’s outstanding stationery choices are now even more widely available in your neighborhood brick and mortar stationery store.”
About OutVite: OutVite was launched in November 2003 by a group of gay and lesbian stationery industry professionals, with the goal of offering quality stationery products for GLBT consumers. OutVite has been selected for use by organizations including PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) and the Human Rights Campaign. The company has worked with and supports GLAD (Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders), PFLAG, National Center for Lesbian Rights, Equality California, and the Greater Worcester Community Foundations GLBT Partnership.
About eInvite.com: eInvite.com is one of the Web’s leading retailers of fine personalized stationery and invitations. The company specializes in offering literally thousands of options, all customizable through its patented online proofing technology.
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