Samsonite was an American manufacturer of LEGO sets which introduced the very first USA LEGO catalog for Christmas of 1961. LEGO and Samsonite created a partnership to produce and sell LEGO in the US. The result was a 9-year license for exclusive North American distribution rights. Samsonite began marketing sets under the name LEGO by Samsonite in the US in 1961 and Canada in 1962.
1962 LEGO Sets
In 1962, LEGO introduced one of its most important innovations—the wheel. This addition transformed LEGO from a static building toy into a dynamic system of movement. The first wheel sets (400 and 401) featured plastic hubs with rubber tires, enabling realistic vehicles and construction models. The company also expanded globally into Asia, Africa, and Australia, and established a process development lab in Billund that pioneered the switch to ABS plastic, which became standard the following year.