Adam Kaleikau has “always been way into design stuff.”

This year, he became graphics and communications manager for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Kansas City, creating print and online materials, billboards and videos. And he recently celebrated the first anniversary of his line of T-shirts, Angryape.

“I follow a lot of streetwear blogs — it’s a whole lifestyle,” Kaleikau said. “I’m fascinated by urban fashion and how people are so loyal to brands that they’ll camp out for a shirt. It’s kind of cool, and I’d do the same thing.”

Kaleikau dreamed up Angryape as a college student. For his senior art show project at Graceland University in Iowa, the digital communications and graphic design major created T-shirts and displayed them men’s boutique-style. He called his collection Angryape, based on a sketch he’d made of a simian sporting headphones. After graduating, he couldn’t find a job related to his major in Kansas City. “The economy,” he said. So he worked for his cousin as assistant superintendent at Rockwood Golf Course in Independence for a few years.

He wanted to start something design-related, so he traveled to California to check out the streetwear design scene there, including the work of Ben Gold, an artist he admires. The trip inspired doing Angryape Clothing Co. with shirts for men and women.

Angryape T-shirts are mostly black. In fluorescent pink and blue lettering, one says “Ape in 3D since 1983” (the year he was born). There’s a yellow one with a broken vinyl record. His best-seller is “Blake,” a tribute shirt to a friend, a wildlife firefighter, who died of a heart condition. The shirts are sold through angryapeclothing.com, and at Method, 1817 Wyandotte St.