He’s been told to prepare to go viral. Larry Rutkowski’s "Hell No Kitty" designs once caught the eye of a marketing executive from Disney who leaned in for some close conversation with him about one of his product lines.

"You’re going to make a billion dollars," she said.

The designs wink at a popular Japanese character that has grown into a billion-dollar global industry. "Hell No Kitty" has become a sort of polar opposite fashion statement.

The line of kitties has expanded from an attitude-laden cat wearing a hibiscus to other attitude-wielding feline faces bearing eye patches, knives, dog bones and, more recently, superhero themes, given Hollywood blockbuster films based on generations’ worth of superhero worship.

The superhero kitties caught a great deal of nerdy attention at Kawaii Kon, the annual anime and manga convention at the Hawaii Convention Center last weekend.

Rutkowski has been approached by retailers wanting to carry his merchandise and about licensing deals, and he plans to follow up with the queries in coming months after he gets a break from a recent raft of craft fairs.

"People will say, I want hundreds of shirts,’ or I want to license your design,’ and you’ve gotta be ready," he said. That involves attorneys and supply chains, and committing to any such deals before the infrastructure is in place "gives you a black eye," he said.

As he doesn’t want to need the eye patch his "Hell No Kitty" sports, Rutkowski wants to take the necessary steps to get his ducks aligned before perhaps fully launching e-commerce sales and all the other things he’s been approached about.

Until he fully jumps into the retail and online marketplaces, Rutkowski will continue on the craft fair circuit, with an appearance at the Creations of Hawaii event at Pearlridge Center Uptown on April 18 and 19; at Uncle Robert’s in Kalapana on Hawaii island, where he is most Wednesdays unless he is traveling; at Prince Kuhio Plaza during the Merrie Monarch Festival; and for May Day festivities on the mainland, he’ll be at the California Hotel in Las Vegas.

Rutkowski has worked in law enforcement, forensics, real estate, a homeless ministry and, for the last several years, in the graphic T-shirt and decal business.

His sense of humor and whimsy also can be seen in his T-shirt designs bearing bold letters such as FBI, CSI and TSA. The acronyms stand not for government agencies’ names, but, respectively, for From Big Island, Can’t Stand Idiots and Tired Standing Around.

While the FBI T-shirt started out as his most popular lettered shirt, the CSI design has since become "the heavyweight champion of the world," he chuckled. "It’s so universal," because nobody can stand idiots, "and half the time, we act like idiots ourselves," he laughed. "I always give credit where credit is due."

"When I go back to Hilo, I’m going to wear the long-sleeved TSA shirt," just to see how the real TSA agents react to it, he said with a grin.

Additional designs include "Kanaka Maoli" with a green, red and yellow Native Hawaiian flag; "Boar Hunter," bearing a hairy, tusked porcine profile; and other locally meaningful images on T-shirts, tank tops, stickers, decals and even rubber slippers.

The inspiration for his 60 to 70 designs "just comes from above, from the Lord," he said.

His operation is essentially him, designers he hires to translate his vision into printable form, manufacturers who turn his designs into product, and the boxes of wares he carts around to various venues for sales.

At age 65, though, "I can’t be carrying bins to festivals and fairs" forever, he said. "I am kind of ready now, it’s my mission now," to open up to the broader marketplace.

WHERE TO BUY:
>> April 18-19: Pearlridge Center Uptown
>> April 23: Uncle Robert’s (Kalapana, Hawaii island)
>> April 24-May 2: Prince Kuhio Plaza
>> May 3-4: California Hotel, Las Vegas

CONTACT:
Larry Rutkowski
kamehameha669@hotmail.com

“Buy Local” runs on Aloha Fridays. Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.