Schleich
Encyclopedia
Schleich is a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 producer of toy figurine
Figurine
A figurine is a statuette that represents a human, deity or animal. Figurines may be realistic or iconic, depending on the skill and intention of the creator. The earliest were made of stone or clay...

s and accessories. The company is headquartered in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. The traditional market for Schleich products is Mainland Europe, with half their sales in Germany. However, their toys are sold worldwide and are now becoming quite popular in the United Kingdom, Australia and North America, where the Schleich figures are available from Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...

, Meijer
Meijer
Meijer, Inc. is a regional American hypermarket chain based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 1934 as a supermarket chain, Meijer is credited with pioneering the modern supercenter concept in 1962. About half of the company's 196 stores are located in Michigan, with additional locations in...

, Toys "R" Us, and also in the prestigious FAO Schwarz toy shop on Fifth Avenue.

History

Schleich was founded by Friedrich Schleich in 1935. Its figurines were first released in the 1950's with the development, production and marketing of comic figurines such as Snoopy
Snoopy
Snoopy is an fictional character in the long-running comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. He is Charlie Brown's pet beagle. Snoopy began his life in the strip as a fairly conventional dog, but eventually evolved into perhaps the strip's most dynamic character—and among the most recognizable...

 and The Smurfs
The Smurfs (merchandising)
The Smurfs is a Belgian comic book series created by Peyo in 1958. It became well-known worldwide with the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series in the 1980s. With the popularity of the Smurfs came a wide range of toys and spin-off products and use of the Smurfs in merchandising...

. In the early 1980s they added animal figurines and Muppet character
The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...

s to their range of products. Until the end of 2006, Schleich was a family-owned business. It was then taken over by the British investment company HG Capital
HG Capital
The following are three unrelated private equity firms with similar names incorporating "H", "G" and "Capital" in their respective names:...

, who paid 165 million euro for an 80% share.

Design and Production

The design of products and the creation of tooling is mostly in-house. Production is at the German headquarters and in production facilities in foreign countries, with the figures being hand-painted in China. In 2006, Schleich had about 250 employees and a yearly sales figure of around 80 million Euro.

Product Lines

The current line of figurines now encompasses animals, knights, dinosaurs, The Smurfs, pets, elves and the American frontier
Frontier
A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. 'Frontier' was absorbed into English from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"--the region of a country that fronts on another country .The use of "frontier" to mean "a region at the...

along with many accessories for each.

In May 2007, the new Elfen line was introduced. It features Southern and Northern Elfen in a battle of light and dark.
In 2009 a story book about the elves was also published by Schleich. It had originally been released chapter by chapter on the company website.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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