Fab Factory Studios has taken a strategic stake in Milkyway Brands, the Los Angeles-based merchandise and fulfillment company, and moved the operation into dedicated warehouse space on its North Hollywood campus. The investment signals a broader shift in entertainment economics: creators now view merchandise as a real business line, not an afterthought.
Fab Factory has spent the past decade building one of Los Angeles’ largest privately held production ecosystems. The company operates more than 120,000 square feet of production, post-production and event infrastructure across North Hollywood and East Hollywood. Its client roster spans SZA, will.i.am, The Chainsmokers, Post Malone and Hit-Boy in music, plus film and television projects including Joker, Venom and The Rings of Power.
The Milkyway investment extends that infrastructure into a new revenue stream. By housing Milkyway’s design, manufacturing and fulfillment operations under the same roof as Fab Factory’s studios and post-production bays, the companies have created what amounts to a vertical merchandise pipeline. An artist recording in Fab Factory’s studio can move directly into Milkyway’s production space to manufacture apparel bearing their brand.
The Merch Gap
Milkyway Brands was founded by Franco Infante, who scaled the company from a phone-case startup into a full-service merchandise operation serving artists, creators, sports properties and brands. His client roster has included Jhené Aiko, A$AP Rocky, Kevin Hart, Anderson. Paak, the LA Clippers and Jordan Brand.
The company identified a clear market gap. Most artists outsource merchandise to third-party vendors scattered across multiple supply chains, creating delays, quality inconsistencies and higher fulfillment costs. Milkyway controls the entire process in-house: apparel design, manufacturing, decoration and drop-ship fulfillment.
In 2025, Infante launched Prjct Blanks, a proprietary line of premium blanks manufactured and finished on Milkyway’s own equipment. The company is also building Prjct Merch, a Shopify-connected platform that allows customers to upload artwork, receive instant pricing and route jobs directly into production.
Capital and Speed as Competitive Advantages
The Fab Factory investment brings both capital and creative adjacency to the Milkyway operation. Tai Savet, who led the business acquisition, joined as an investor alongside Ketrina “Taz” Askew, longtime manager of Grammy-nominated artist Jhené Aiko, and Chris Cyre, a music and merchandise veteran.
For Fab Factory chairman Steven Fabos, the strategy builds on a proven playbook. Before founding Fab Factory, Fabos started Steven Charles, a gourmet dessert company that became the private-label supplier behind Starbucks’ cake pops and was later acquired by Bain Capital-backed DessertHoldings. He has consistently pursued vertical ownership across his business ventures.
“Quality becomes defensible when you own the infrastructure,” Fabos said. “Milkyway has the same DNA: own the product, own the process and build something that can scale without losing its standard.”
The Creator Economy Gets Serious
The deal reflects a maturation in how artists view merchandise revenue. Creators are no longer treating product as a peripheral brand extension. Apparel, blanks and limited-edition merchandise are now core business lines with real margin potential.
Infante said creators increasingly demand that merchandise quality match the quality of their content. An artist with a global fanbase cannot afford to sell low-quality apparel bearing their name; it damages the brand. By controlling manufacturing, Milkyway ensures every product meets the production standard the brand requires.
Savet, who led the acquisition, framed the partnership in those terms. “Fab Factory sits at the source of culture. Milkyway gives that culture a product engine. When those two businesses operate under one roof, every recording session, campaign, fan moment and brand activation has a direct path to commerce,” he said.
The Economics of Ownership
From a business standpoint, the investment addresses a structural problem in creator monetization. Artists have historically ceded merchandise revenue to third-party operators in exchange for outsourcing operational complexity. By moving that function in-house, Fab Factory and Milkyway are capturing margin at multiple points: manufacturing, decoration, fulfillment, and potentially platform licensing through Prjct Merch.
The campus consolidation also improves operational efficiency. A brand can now shoot content, produce video, design merchandise and manufacture apparel without coordinating across multiple vendors and supply chains. That speed translates to faster time-to-market for limited-edition drops and faster inventory turns.
For Fab Factory, the investment extends its role beyond studio operator into a comprehensive entertainment infrastructure platform. The company now owns the full creator pipeline: content creation, post-production and commerce fulfillment. That ownership structure increases customer switching costs and makes Fab Factory a more valuable strategic asset for entertainment companies and management firms seeking integrated production services.
Terms of the investment were not disclosed.
