What's New at PostMark Press

For Immediate Release
April 23, 2008
Contact: Kathy Alpert
617-924-3520, cell 617-538-0816.

Postmark Press® Unveils Four Collections
Vintage, Retro Women Feature Clever Taglines

NEW YORK—PostMark Press is set to release four exciting new collections at SURTEX® (Booth #2015; Hall 1E): Women with Attitude; Glamour Girls; Flappers & Flirts; and Victorian Vixens. Collections include original designs and clever, upbeat taglines for authentic retro, vintage, antique, and historical images of women.New designs available for licensing will be exhibited at SURTEX.®

Women with Attitude, the company’s flagship collection, showcases sassy mid-century women in their fifties habitat, the American home. Glamour Girls are fashionistas, bathing beauties, and stars of stage and screen from early to mid-century. The Flappers & Flirts Collection focuses on actresses and dancers from the Roaring Twenties, while Victorian Vixens digs deep into the archives to unearth spunky and sometimes provocatively dressed women from an era when socially acceptable dress meant complete coverage.

Culled from vintage ads, postcards, chromolithographs, and other genuine ephemera, each design is offered along with a clever tagline and unique design elements reflecting the period.

PostMark’s team offers personalized service and works closely with each of its licensees to source images and develop customized product designs based on each company’s individual needs. Most recently, PostMark Press has completed work on the 2009 RetroMama and It’s Good to Be Bad calendars for Sellers Publishing, as well as new greeting cards for Sellers Publishing. Sellers Publishing was recently named one of the fastest growing publishers by an industry trade publication.

Another recent development: Nancy Rosin has joined forces with PostMark Press to help develop and launch the Victorian Vixens Collection. Nancy, a colleague from the Ephemera Society of America, is an internationally known collector of antique valentines and rare and beautiful 19th century chromolithographs. Her images have been used in the past in her line of handmade greeting cards; custom designed postage stamps; and in a PBS Special, The Mysterious Human Heart. In 2006, Kathy and Nancy worked together with Sterling Publishing on six book/CD packages for their Memories of a Lifetime series.

PostMark Press launched its line of whimsical greeting cards at the National Stationery Show in 2002. The first greeting cards featured images from “The Golden Age of Postcards” culled from Founder Kathy Alpert’s collection. Each postcard’s original handwritten message was printed on the back of the corresponding greeting card. The cards were an immediate hit with both retailers and consumers, counting among customers Whole Foods Markets and the Coronado Historical Association’s Museum of History and Art. At its peak in 2003, 300+ SKUs of greeting cards, postcards, gift enclosures, and holiday ornaments were sold in more than 500 specialty retailers, catalogs, and other outlets.

In 2005, Leanin’ Tree launched its line of PostMark Press greeting cards, and PostMark Press moved from manufacturing to licensing. Leanin’ Tree continues to license PostMark Press’s images for a range of products including greeting cards; magnetic notepads; magnets; and invitations.

PostMark Press designed packaging for a new line of chocolate bars with a vintage look, produced and wholesaled by Tom & Sally’s Handmade Chocolates of Brattleboro, Vermont. Launching with six holiday designs in 2005, the company line has added 19 additional designs since the product launch.

Anthropologie commissioned PostMark Press to design and produce boxed holiday greeting cards and an assortment of handmade Christmas ornaments for their stores around the country.

Based in Watertown, Massachusetts, PostMark Press is owned and operated by Kathy Alpert, who previously ran a PR and marketing business servicing clients ranging from trendy restaurants to consumer electronics. Kathy began collecting ephemera in the 1970s, after her grandfather sold his New Hampshire farmhouse and she inherited a trove of photographs, magazines, sheet music, postcards, and other ephemera.

Now the company’s collection of many thousands of pieces is accompanied by a digital image archive, with more than 200+ categories, and images from any category available on request. PostMark Press seeks licensees in publishing; apparel; giftware; and other categories. For more information, please contact Kathy Alpert at 617/924-3530 or 617/538-0816 during the show, or visit booth #2015 in Hall 1E.