Little Trees (Also called Wunder Baum, Arbre Magique and Magic Tree in the United Kingdom until 2011) is a company that makes car fresheners shaped like evergreen trees. Little Trees is owned by Car Freshener Corporation. Little Trees are usually hung from rear-view mirrors. They were invented in 1952 by Julius Samann, a JewishCanadian who left Germany to escape the Nazis. Little Trees usually last a month before losing their smell.[1] In November 2015, Car Freshener Corporation made one hundred million USD a year.[2] In 2022, it was making $84.5 million a year.[3]
History
Little Trees were invented in 1952 by Julius Sämann in a rented garage in Watertown, New York.[4] Julius Samann was a Jew from Germany who left Germany and immigrated to Canada at the start of World War II to escape the Nazis.[5] In Canada, Sämann studied the smell of Alpine Trees[5] for five years.[6] Sämann invented Little Trees after a milk driver complained to him about the smell of spilled milk.[5][7] Julius Samann filed a patent for Little Trees in 1954.[5] Little Trees was the first car freshener.[7][8]
Locations
The headquarters is in Watertown, New York,[5][7] but it has 2 factories in total in the United States. The other factory is in Dewitt, Iowa.[9] There used to be a third factory in Berlin, New Hampshire,[9] but in April 2012 it was announced that it would close.[10] Little Trees had several locations in Watertown in the 1950s and 1960s.[4] Little Trees has around 310 people working at the factories in the United States.[3] Little Trees is called Wunder Baum in Germany, Poland, Norway, Finland and Sweden.[11][12] Little Trees is called Arbre Magique in France, Spain and Italy.[11] Little Trees was called Magic Trees in the United Kingdom until they announced they would change their name to Little Trees in 2011.[11][13] On March 22, 2020 the factory in Watertown, New York closed for a short time and fired many workers because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cheryl Mayforth estimated that 20 to 30 percent of workers would be fired by the end of the pandemic.[14][15]
In 2002, Little Trees sued Rite Way Wholesale Incorporated, a small business in Queens, New York for selling counterfeit vanilla-scented tree shaped air fresheners without Little Trees' permission. Because of the lawsuit, Rite Way Wholesale Inc. had their entire stock destroyed and had to pay an unrevealed amount of money to Little Trees.[17]
In 2006, Little Trees sued Corndog Cards & Novelties for selling glow-in-the-dark Little Trees with greeting messages on them. They had to pay one hundred United States Dollars and tell Little Trees the names of everyone who bought one.[18]
In 2009, Little Trees sued Getty Images because Getty Images posted images of a car with a Little Tree hung from the rear-view mirror.[19]
↑"A little change for Magic Tree". CAT. 2011-08-25. Archived from the original on 2017-05-06. Retrieved 2018-02-03. One of the most recognisable brands in the UK aftermarket, [Magic Tree's UK distributor has] announced that from this month the Magic Tree brand will change its name to Little Trees.
