Whatever! Company leans into artist-driven design, blending licensed IP with original concepts and a growing toy line.
A company named Whatever! may sound ambivalent, but its trajectory tells a different story.
Whatever! Company has spent more than 15 years developing private-label and licensed apparel and merchandise for Hot Topic and other retail partners. The business gained new momentum last year when two former Loungefly executives joined its leadership team.
Liz DeSilva, Chief Creative Officer, and Derrick Baca, Chief Merchandising Officer, each bring more than 20 years of experience in licensing and apparel.
The pair previously spent more than five years at Loungefly, helping shape the colorful pop-culture-inspired accessories line that defined the Funko-owned brand.
Since joining Whatever!, DeSilva and Baca have expanded the company’s portfolio as founders of Whatever! Makes You Happy, a new brand, featuring licensed bags, charms, jewelry, and accessories inspired by cross-generational properties such as Peanuts, SpongeBob SquarePants, Care Bears, Rainbow Brite, and Polly Pocket.
“Loungefly, more than anything, opened my eyes to how many form factors there are out there and how many different things we can apply pop culture, cute characters, and fun to for adults. You’re not so limited,” DeSilva says. “There’s so much out there to innovate and make better … it’s very easy to take something and figure out how we are going to make it fresh, cute, and fun.”
The Whatever! Makes You Happy brand has partnered with fan-favorites including SpongeBob SquarePants, Care Bears, and Peanuts. | Source: Whatever! Company
The Whatever! Makes You Happy brand has partnered with fan-favorites including SpongeBob SquarePants, Care Bears, and Peanuts. | Source: Whatever! Company
The Whatever! Makes You Happy brand has partnered with fan-favorites including SpongeBob SquarePants, Care Bears, and Peanuts. | Source: Whatever! Company
The Whatever! Makes You Happy brand has partnered with fan-favorites including SpongeBob SquarePants, Care Bears, and Peanuts. | Source: Whatever! Company
The Whatever! Company team aims to bring this freshness to popular brands, but also brands that haven’t gotten as much love in the accessories space, including the century-old Kewpie.
“We gravitate towards licenses that are a little bit more fringe and haven’t had as much time to shine,” DeSilva says. “In our first collection drop, we did Kewpie. There hasn’t been much merch for Kewpie, so we did a Halloween take on it, and it went crazy. People didn’t have any Kewpie to buy, so we gave them something.”
The company plans to expand that momentum with returning Kewpie items alongside new collections tied to Universal Monsters and a broader dark romance trend.
Distribution spans major retailers, such as Hot Topic, BoxLunch, and Walmart, but the company prioritizes specialty retailers.
“We believed this when we were at Loungefly, and we believe it now— mom-and-pops are kind of the forgotten tier of distribution,” Baca says. “We really like to work with a lot of independent boutiques, and so we have our line available for them. We do have some distribution partners as well, but really specialty and mom-and-pops and e-comms are where we focus.”
Beyond licensed products, Whatever! has introduced more than 15 internal IPs, including Ghostees and Burger Babie, developed in collaboration with independent artists. Baca points to the rise of Pop Mart as validation of demand for original, artist-driven concepts.
“We represent over a hundred different independent artists,” Baca says. “Pop Mart taught the industry that it doesn’t have to be a big studio. If it’s cute, it’s going to sell. Regardless of whether Labubu is a one-time thing, it wasn’t necessarily licensed, and it became this thing. It opened people’s eyes to cute stuff out there that isn’t from these big studios. There’s lots of stuff out there.”
The company is also expanding into toys through its Otonagai collection. Otonagai is a Japanese phrase that roughly translates to “adult buying,” referring to adults who buy toys and collectibles designed for kids. In other words, the much-buzzed-about kidult consumer. The first release, The Cryptids, debuted at Hot Topic during the holiday season with blind-box plush inspired by mythical figures such as Mothman and Bigfoot. A second series arrives in September, followed by two additional Otonagai launches in November.
With plans for new collections of toys and accessories in the year ahead, DeSilva and Baca are just getting started in Whatever! Company’s new journey into creating name-brand products for fans of all types.
“Our company is literally about whatever makes you happy,” DeSilva says. “We’re making things that we love, that our team loves, and that people out there in the world love, which is great.”
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A version of this feature first appeared in The Toy Book‘s 2026 Licensing & Entertainment Issue, featuring The Licensing Book. Read the full issue here!
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