Schleich is a German producer of toy figurines and accessories. The company is headquartered in Germany. 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, 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 and The Smurfs. In the early 1980s they added animal figurines and Muppet characters to their range of products. Until the end of 2006, Schleich was a family-owned business.