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![]() Little Trees (Called Wunder-Baum in Northern, Central, and Western Europe) hanging from a car window | |
Industry | Car freshener manufacturing |
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Founded | 1952Watertown, New York | in
Founder | Julius Samann |
Headquarters | , |
$84 million (2022) | |
Number of employees | 420 (2005) ![]() |
Parent | Car Freshener Corporation |
Website | littletrees |
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 Jewish Canadian 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]
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]
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]
The company is very serious about its trademark and has filed over 70 lawsuits.[16]
Hanging things from rear-view mirrors in a way that could make it hard for drivers to see is illegal in Quebec, Switzerland, and Luxembourg.[20] It is also illegal in the United States states of Minnesota, California, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Illinois, and Texas. It is illegal to hang objects from rear-view mirrors in Virginia, but police can not stop a car for it.[21]
Little Trees has been in many movies. Little Trees is on the cover of Rear View, a 2004 novel made by Pete Duval.[22]
Little Trees have been in movies like Ocean's Eleven (2001).[4][22] Little Trees were also in Uncut Gems (2019), Impractical Jokers (2020), Hooking Up (2020) and Lorelei (2020).[23] In Seven (1995), Little Trees were hung from the ceiling in a room where a murder happened to hide the smell of a dead body.[1] In The Fisher King Robin Williams wears a Little Tree around his neck.[1] In Grumpy Old Men Walter Matthau hangs six Little Trees from the rear-view mirror to hide the smell of dead fish.[22]
In 2009 Jack Williams made "Forest", he hung 350 Little Trees from the ceiling. He did it because he liked the smell of Little Trees.[5]