The Cat is back at Crazy Shirts.

After a nearly decade-long "vacation," B. Kliban Cat designs will again be emblazoned on Crazy Shirts clothing, re-establishing a relationship that began 30 years ago and helped develop the popularity of both the cat image and the kama'aina retail chain.

Crazy Shirts said Kliban products will be in O'ahu stores starting Tuesday, and initially will include versions of classic designs such as the mawashi-wearing Sumo Cat and the grass-skirted Hula Cat.

The rollout of Kliban Cat apparel will extend in coming weeks to select Neighbor Island and Mainland stores under an exclusive U.S. clothing license with the 39-store apparel manufacturer and retailer.

"The brands really grew up together and they complement each other extremely well," said Mark Hollander, Crazy Shirts president. "We are very excited and feel like 'The Cat' has come home."

Crazy Shirts, established in 1964, first obtained rights in 1977 to use the feline created by cartoonist B. "Hap" Kliban, shortly after the artist published a wildly popular cat book.

For more than two decades, the retailer exclusively sold scores of Kliban Cat shirts that became an iconic image in Hawai'i and around the world. At one time, Kliban Cat merchandise accounted for half of Crazy Shirts sales.

But in 1999 during a period of financial difficulty for Crazy Shirts, Judith Kliban Bixby, the widow of B. Kliban, who died in 1990, revoked Crazy Shirts' license after alleging in a lawsuit that the company underpaid royalties on Kliban Cat sales.

The license in 2000 was assigned to locally owned resort sportswear retailer Sgt. Leisure, which opened a couple of boutique B. Kliban stores in Waikiki. But the stores closed, and the license in recent years passed to two other companies. Crazy Shirts filed for bankruptcy in 2001, and was bought by Only The Best Inc., a company affiliated with the owners of Waikiki Trader Corp., the majority owner of Sgt. Leisure and operator of other retail stores.

Kliban Bixby in a statement expressed good wishes about the reunification. "I'm thrilled that we're back and I hope that we have a long and fruitful relationship," she said.

Hollander said reacquainting Crazy Shirts and the Kliban Cat leverages the strength of the two brands enhanced by their history together.

He said Crazy Shirts initially will release 14 classic Kliban Cat designs, and later will expand the brand in other ways, like incorporating Kliban Cat images in newer product lines such as sunflower-dyed shirts featuring Kliban's Sunflower Cat.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.