We were lucky to catch up with Stephen Mangini recently and have shared our conversation below.

Stephen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

The name ‘Limitless MFG’ was really about setting the tone for what we wanted to build. In the branding and merchandising space, there’s a lot of copy-paste work—companies that take a cookie-cutter approach, chase quick money, and don’t put much thought into the creative process. We wanted to be the complete opposite of that. For us, it’s about limitless possibilities—whether it’s creative direction, production capabilities, or the way we partner with clients to bring ideas to life. The name is a reminder to ourselves and our clients that there’s no ceiling on what we can create together.

Stephen, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a 25-year-old from New York, and honestly, I didn’t come from a business or design background. My early days were spent doing physical labor and factory work—just grinding and saving every dollar I could to eventually launch my own clothing brand. That brand became my entry point into the fashion world and ultimately led me to Los Angeles, where I threw myself headfirst into the creative scene.

Being out here and meeting so many other artists, entrepreneurs, and brand owners made me realize that I wasn’t just passionate about building my own brand—I also loved helping others bring their visions to life. That’s really how Limitless MFG was born.

Today, we’re a full-service branding and merchandising agency. We handle everything from product manufacturing and design to e-commerce development, fulfillment, and logistics. Whether it’s a startup clothing line or a major artist dropping tour merch, we help clients create products that feel intentional, exciting, and true to their brand.

What sets us apart is our obsession with creativity and refusing to play it safe. A lot of this industry is dominated by people taking the easiest route possible—template designs, generic products, minimal effort. That’s never been our style. Every project we touch, we’re looking for ways to make it fun, fresh, and something people will actually care about.

The thing I’m most proud of is building all of this from the ground up—self-taught, no business degree, no formal education in this field—just a relentless drive to figure it out and make it work.

If there’s one thing I want people to know, it’s that I’m not some exception to the rule. I didn’t start with special resources or insider knowledge. I just started. And if I can do that, so can they.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

One of the biggest risks I’ve ever taken with Limitless happened back in 2021, when the company was still in its early days. We had just landed our first major musician client and produced our first run of hoodies for them. It felt like a huge win at the time… but that was just the beginning.

After the hoodies sold out, their team reached out with a curveball: they needed a merch team to tour the entire USA with them—17 shows, 15 cities, all over the course of 35 days. No tour bus, no big crew. Just us, living out of suitcases and driving a rented Sprinter van from city to city.

We had never done anything like that before. No real experience in tour logistics. No clue how to pull it off. But we said yes anyway. We pitched the deal, made it sound great on paper, and took the job—severely undervaluing ourselves in the process just to prove we could do it.

That tour became a turning point for us. We learned everything on the fly—how to set up quickly, handle inventory in different states, and keep up with the crazy pace of live events. And just when we thought we were catching our breath, we took an even bigger leap: a full European tour with the same artist.

That came with a whole new set of challenges—customs, international shipping, currency differences—but again, we figured it out. Both tours went off better than we could have imagined, and to this day, touring merch is one of the signature services we offer for our special clients.

Looking back, it was reckless, exhausting, and honestly… one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

This question always gets me excited because honestly… it feels like something straight out of a movie.

I met my business partner, Miller McCoy, back in 2019. At the time, we both had our own clothing brands and crossed paths through this random Instagram group chat that was created for like-minded streetwear brand owners to support and promote each other.

We clicked almost immediately—spending hours on calls talking about business, swapping ideas, and even pitching brand collabs between our two lines.

Eventually, Miller moved out to Los Angeles, and as fate would have it, his roommates ended up moving out around the same time, leaving an open room at his place.

I decided to fly out and meet him in person, just for a week. But of course… it was mid-Covid, and flights were a mess. My original flight got canceled at the last second, and the only option left was this one-way Delta flight from Rochester, NY to LA. So I just sent it.

What was supposed to be a quick week-long trip turned into two weeks. And by the second week, both of us ended up landing an internship with a major fashion designer in the city. Miller got hired on the spot. So did I… but there was one small problem—I didn’t actually live in LA yet.

So I told them: ‘Give me 30 days and I’ll be back.’ I flew home, packed up my life, and drove cross-country to move in with Miller. That was the start of both our LA journey and the foundation for what would later become Limitless MFG. The rest was history.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Limitless-mfg.com
• Instagram: @limitless.mfg & @Stephendisastr