Fab Factory Studios has taken a strategic stake in Milkyway Manufacturers, the Los Angeles-based merchandise and achievement firm, and moved the operation into devoted warehouse house on its North Hollywood campus. The funding indicators a broader shift in leisure economics: creators now view merchandise as an actual enterprise line, not an afterthought.
Fab Manufacturing unit has spent the previous decade constructing one among Los Angeles’ largest privately held manufacturing ecosystems. The corporate operates greater than 120,000 sq. ft of manufacturing, post-production and occasion infrastructure throughout North Hollywood and East Hollywood. Its consumer roster spans SZA, will.i.am, The Chainsmokers, Put up Malone and Hit-Boy in music, plus movie and tv tasks together with Joker, Venom and The Rings of Energy.
The Milkyway funding extends that infrastructure into a brand new income stream. By housing Milkyway’s design, manufacturing and achievement operations beneath the identical roof as Fab Manufacturing unit’s studios and post-production bays, the businesses have created what quantities to a vertical merchandise pipeline. An artist recording in Fab Manufacturing unit’s studio can transfer straight into Milkyway’s manufacturing house to fabricate attire bearing their model.
The Merch Hole
Milkyway Manufacturers was based by Franco Infante, who scaled the corporate from a phone-case startup right into a full-service merchandise operation serving artists, creators, sports activities properties and types. His consumer roster has included Jhené Aiko, A$AP Rocky, Kevin Hart, Anderson. Paak, the LA Clippers and Jordan Model.
The corporate recognized a transparent market hole. Most artists outsource merchandise to third-party distributors scattered throughout a number of provide chains, creating delays, high quality inconsistencies and better achievement prices. Milkyway controls your complete course of in-house: attire design, manufacturing, ornament and drop-ship achievement.
In 2025, Infante launched Prjct Blanks, a proprietary line of premium blanks manufactured and completed on Milkyway’s personal tools. The corporate can be constructing Prjct Merch, a Shopify-connected platform that permits clients to add paintings, obtain immediate pricing and route jobs straight into manufacturing.
Capital and Velocity as Aggressive Benefits
The Fab Manufacturing unit funding brings each capital and inventive adjacency to the Milkyway operation. Tai Savet, who led the enterprise acquisition, joined as an investor alongside Ketrina “Taz” Askew, longtime supervisor of Grammy-nominated artist Jhené Aiko, and Chris Cyre, a music and merchandise veteran.
For Fab Manufacturing unit chairman Steven Fabos, the technique builds on a confirmed playbook. Earlier than founding Fab Manufacturing unit, Fabos began Steven Charles, a gourmand dessert firm that grew to become the private-label provider behind Starbucks’ cake pops and was later acquired by Bain Capital-backed DessertHoldings. He has constantly pursued vertical possession throughout his enterprise ventures.
“High quality turns into defensible once you personal the infrastructure,” Fabos mentioned. “Milkyway has the identical DNA: personal the product, personal the method and construct one thing that may scale with out shedding its commonplace.”
The Creator Financial system Will get Severe
The deal displays a maturation in how artists view merchandise income. Creators are now not treating product as a peripheral model extension. Attire, blanks and limited-edition merchandise at the moment are core enterprise strains with actual margin potential.
Infante mentioned creators more and more demand that merchandise high quality match the standard of their content material. An artist with a worldwide fanbase can not afford to promote low-quality attire bearing their identify; it damages the model. By controlling manufacturing, Milkyway ensures each product meets the manufacturing commonplace the model requires.
Savet, who led the acquisition, framed the partnership in these phrases. “Fab Manufacturing unit sits on the supply of tradition. Milkyway provides that tradition a product engine. When these two companies function beneath one roof, each recording session, marketing campaign, fan second and model activation has a direct path to commerce,” he mentioned.
The Economics of Possession
From a enterprise standpoint, the funding addresses a structural downside in creator monetization. Artists have traditionally ceded merchandise income to third-party operators in change for outsourcing operational complexity. By shifting that operate in-house, Fab Manufacturing unit and Milkyway are capturing margin at a number of factors: manufacturing, ornament, achievement, and probably platform licensing via Prjct Merch.
The campus consolidation additionally improves operational effectivity. A model can now shoot content material, produce video, design merchandise and manufacture attire with out coordinating throughout a number of distributors and provide chains. That pace interprets to quicker time-to-market for limited-edition drops and quicker stock turns.
For Fab Manufacturing unit, the funding extends its position past studio operator right into a complete leisure infrastructure platform. The corporate now owns the total creator pipeline: content material creation, post-production and commerce achievement. That possession construction will increase buyer switching prices and makes Fab Manufacturing unit a extra worthwhile strategic asset for leisure corporations and administration corporations in search of built-in manufacturing providers.
Phrases of the funding weren’t disclosed.
