About us
Company history
Holger und Ingo Legler founded the Handelshaus Legler in Delmenhorst in 1988. At the time they concentrated on importing and selling promotional items and gifts made of wood. In 1995 the two company founders shifted their focus onto wooden toys and constantly extended their range of products to also include decoration items and gifts, for example. What started more than 20 years ago is now a successful company with operations throughout Europe. Our range currently features around 3,000 articles including more than 500 new developments every year and a number of product developments designed by us and sold under our own brand name "small foot design".
| 1988 |  Brothers Holger and Ingo Legler found the trading firm Legler OHG. |
| 1995 | The company headquarters in Achimer Strasse in Delmenhorst, Germany is opened. Around 10 employees are working for the company. |
| 1999 |  The company premises is expanded to include a building for the sales and trade exhibition departments. |
| 2000 | Additional markets all across Europe are gained: England and France are followed by Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, and Portugal follow that same year. Foreign language teams in our internal sales department guarantee first-class service in each country's language. |
| 2002 | A brand is born! small foot is the brand for wooden toys from Legler, and stands for the idea of bringing a smile to children's faces every day! The foot in the logo comes from the real footprint of a Legler child! |
| 2004 |  At the location in Delmenhorse, a collection office with a showroom opens in Brendelweg. |
| 2005 |  Legler continues to grow! With yet another building in Twistringerstrasse in Delmenhorst, the warehouse capacity is expanded considerably in order to be able to offer customers a comprehensive assortment. |
| 2008 | Legler goes online! The online shop offers customers comprehensive language- and country-specific ordering and service functions. |
| 2012 |  The Italian subsidiary "Legler Italia s.r.l." is founded. |
| 2012 | With the transition to completely climate-neutral shipping with DHL ("GoGreen"), Legler takes another step towards sustainability. 25 tons of CO2 are saved annually. |
| 2013 | Timo Sommer joins Holger and Ingo Legler as a third managing director of Legler OHG, which now employs 176 employees. |
| 2013 | Products in the licenced designs from Knight Rusty, Paddington Bear and Shaun the Sheep are added to the Legler assortment. |
| März 2014 | Legler joins the international association of toy distributors and becomes a Vedes partner. |
| 2014 | Themes and content relevant to target groups are now being shared on all relevant social media channels such as Facebook, and later also on Instagram and YouTube, which strengthens the profile of the small foot brand. |
| 2014 | Licence growth: In addition to toys in the licenced design of Peanuts with Charlie Brown and his dog Snoopy, "Our Little Sandman" with baby and infant products moves in with Legler. |
| 2014 | Legler cooperations with idee+spiel and intensifies their customer service with field sales representatives (2015). |
| 2015 | The Very Hungry Caterpillar munches his way through our assortment as the new TOP product licence! The most popular caterpillar in the world from the well-known children's book by Eric Carle is exclusively available from Legler in the form of learning and motor activity toys, rocking animals or just for cuddling. |
| 2016 | Spielgut: Legler is distinguished! The small foot product "Little Bells Rattle" receives the coveted Spielgut award. More awards will follow all the way through to 2019, including for the products "Emergency Doctor Kit", "Snack Kit", and "Skateboard Swing". |
| 2016 | Ready for on-the-go shopping! The Legler online shop becomes compatible for mobile devices and offers customers even more comprehensive service. |
| 2016 | With the music and noise products from the "Sound" product line, the first product group with its mutually enhancing and uniformly designed toys moves in with Legler. Many more product groups will join them in the coming years, such as "Move it!", "Educate", "Lotta, Lex & Ludwig" (in 2017), "Jungle" (in 2018) and "Active", "Space", and "Fresh" (in 2019). |
| 2016 | With the music and noise products from the "Sound" product line, the first product group with its mutually enhancing and uniformly designed toys moves in with Legler. Many more product groups will join them in the coming years, such as "Move it!", "Educate", "Lotta, Lex & Ludwig" (in 2017), "Jungle" (in 2018) and "Active", "Space", and "Fresh" (in 2019). |
| 2016 | In Italy, sales representatives start assisting customers on-site in addition to our telephone service by the Legler internal sales team. |
| November 2017 | Legler receives FSC® certification, taking yet another step towards sustainability. |
| 2017 | With select products from the Lotta, Lex & Ludwig series, Legler brings the first TÜV-certified wooden baby toys to the entire German market. |
| Mai 2017 | Strong emphasis with a new packaging design! In elaborately and informatively designed packaging, small foot products shine with a uniform appearance on the shelf and at the point of sale! |
| 2017 | The launch of the new product group "small foot world" brings a breath of fresh air to the Legler assortment with its expandable and mutually compatible play and experience worlds. |
| 2017 | The company's own photovoltaic solar panels go into operation - they provide all the company's energy needs. |
| Juni 2017 | ICTI Certificate for Legler! With its participation in the ICTI program, Legler gets involved with the adherence to ethical standards and sustainability standards in the global delivery chain of the toy industry. |
| 2017 | Sesame Street as a strong new product licence! Exclusive top-sellers such as pull-along toys, puzzles, and motor activity and role-playing products in Sesame Street designs bring Ernie, Bert, and their friends into the Legler assortment! |
| März 2018 | As of 1 March 2018, Timo Sommer leaves his position as shareholder and managing director, and hands over company leadership of Legler OHG small foot company to André Eichinger. |
| 2018 | The small foot brand goes online with its own website! You can now find small foot products and knowledge about wooden toys online at www.small-foot.de. |
| 2018 | Woodfriends is added to the Legler assortment as a premium brand. |
| Juni 2018 | Exclusively at Legler! The animal figurines from Animal Planet expand the Legler assortment as the perfect addition in the realm of toy farmsa nd riding stalls. |
| Januar 2018 | A quantum leap at the Spielwarenmesse in Oldenburg! Legler presents itself with a new exhibition stand a cumulative quality campaign in Nuremberg across 250 square meters! |
| 2018 | 30 years of Legler! With lots of dedication, a love for the wood - a product of nature, a comprehensive quality and safety policy, high-quality service, and consistent focus on commercial customers, Legler has become one of the largest manufacturers of wooden toys in Germany over the past 30 years. |
| 2019 | The Legler catalogue is growing! Four compact theme catalogues for industry-relevant events and themes such as Trends, Easter & Outdoor, Start of School & Holidays as well as Advent & Christmas now accompany the main catalogue throughout the year. |
| 2019 | The American subsidiary "Legler USA Inc." is founded. |
| 2019 | A new modular shelf tray concept makes a strong appearance at the point of sale for the small foot brand! |
| 2019 | Nominated! The Lawn Mower Baby Walker is nominated for the 2019 ToyAward at the Spielwarenmesse toy fair in Nuremberg, and makes it among the top three amidst 800 submissions in the category "Baby & Infant 0-3 Years". |
| 2019 | For the first time, Legler takes part in the Toy Fair New York international trade exhibition with their own exhibition stand. |
| 2019 | In addition to the in-house sales team, Legler teams up with well-known commercial representatives for toys in Germany and Austria. |
Workforce development
The number of employees has also grown continuously with the size of our company. In 1995 the Handelshaus Legler had a workforce of ten, and now employs more than 170 men and women who are committed to ensuring the quality of our products and providing outstanding customer service with their knowledge and experience.
Locations
Next to the company headquarter at the street Achimer Straße in Delmenhorst, the range is placed in several high-bay storages. The goods can also be picked up by yourself at the street Achimer Straße 6.
Social projects
Donations to atmosfair: Donation activity and social engagement for charity organisations expanded
Taking responsibility for social and societal well-being is an important issue for us. For this reason, we've supported charitable organisations and associations with donations for years. One example of this is our 10+ year support of Ärzte ohne Grenzen e.V. (Doctors Without Borders). We've donated to Ärzte ohne Grenzen e.V. in 2020 as well, and we've also supported "Rettet den Regenwald e.V." (Save the Rainforest) and "Unicef e.V." (Unicef).
What's new?
The topic of climate protection is of increasing importance, and for this reason, we've been supporting the renowned charitable climate protection organisation atmosfair gGmbH with a donation since December 2020.
atmosfair was created in 2004 from a research project of the German Federal Environment Ministry and a joint initiative of the travel agency association "anders reisen" ("Travel Differently") and the environmental /developmental organisation "Germanwatch". This climate protection organisation develops and manages climate protection projects including the expansion of renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies, advises and guides companies and institutions on their paths to transformation to a decarbonized economy, and offers environmentally conscious people the opportunity to offset unavoidable CO₂ emissions in the southern hemisphere.
If you'd like to learn more, you can find plenty of information here: https://www.atmosfair.de/en/
