“Keeping It Local” — Portland Hearts of Pine Launch Their First Kit

[Editor’s Note: Today our own Anthony Emerson is bringing you his kit preview of his home state’s newest USL League One expansion team, the Portland Hearts of Pine, who will start play in the 2025 season. The Hearts just unveiled their inaugural kit. Enjoy! — PH]

• • • • •“Keeping It Local” — Portland Hearts of Pine Launch Their First Kit
by Anthony Emerson

It’s finally becoming real.

The Portland Hearts of Pine launched their inaugural jerseys last night. And if the crest reveal didn’t indicate that the guiding light for the team was Maine Pride, the kit definitely does.

 

Yes, the Woods & Water Kit (as it has been dubbed) is more Maine than Stephen King chugging Moxie on a lobster boat. The primary sponsors (advertisers) are the Maine Tourism Board and LL Bean, for God’s sake!

“Doing things the right way matters, the entire campaign led by Maine people. We’re … keeping it local.” Club founder and co-owner Gabe Hoffman-Johnson told me before the launch event.

“[We] wanted to create something that like when you see someone at a distance, see someone at the airport, you recognize it immediately,” Hoffman-Johnson said. So we have hoops, which Hoffman-Johnson points out rarely cross the pond (Hoffman-Johnson notes that FC Dallas previously wore hoops, and that the Tampa Bay Rowdies have as well), and even in Europe hoops are one of the rarer design elements. “Hoops are ours, hoops are ownable.” He said.

“We want everything to have purpose and reverence,” Hoffman-Johnson said. Mainers can undoubtedly feel that purpose and reverence in the kit. The jersey does look like it could’ve been plucked from the 1950s. A bespoke polo collar with a single button placket complements the design. There are minor red elements on the collar and sleeve cuffs, in addition to the woods-and-water hoops. Hoffman-Johnson notes that “Our woods and our water are iconic, it’s who we are. Not just the ocean, lakes and rivers too. The collar and the cuffs and the red accent is a retro feel as we look for that modern-vintage approach.”

The club’s motto “Lead With Your Heart” is featured on the back, along with what the club calls the “Dirigo Heart” icon — the team’s heart surrounded by the starburst from the Maine state seal.

Hoffman-Johnson says that “Portland fans can expect to see something similar to this for many years to come,” indicating that the forest-and-navy hoops are here to stay for the foreseeable future. The advertising agreement with the Maine tourism board will go on for several more years.

An away kit is planned for later in the winter, and a third kit by April.

The Danish manufacturer Hummel produced the kit, but was minimally involved in the design, which was mostly led by Hoffman-Johnson and club creative director Burke Cherrie. “[Hummel] helped, and [made] some tweaks … we basically went to them with blue-and-green hoops, Lead With Your Heart on the back. They are a well-regarded global football brand. It’s a good fit for us.”

The launch event itself was a celebration of Maine. Notably, no one from club ownership spoke. Local radio hosts emceed in between speakers from community organizations. Before the formal reveal, the team broadcast a short documentary, Rosati, on the eponymous youth soccer organization in Lewiston, Maine. Many times, brand and jersey reveals feel like a celebration of not just the team, but of its owners. But it was clear to me that the Hearts think that the club is just one part of a community tapestry.

“This is a club that means a lot to us and a lot to others,” Hoffman-Johnson says. “[The jersey] was something that was timeless, but also modern-retro sort of feel. The goal was future classic for anyone who has their heart in Maine, whether they were born here or whether they moved hare, it’s for anyone who has an attachment to this place.”

Mission accomplished.

More photos are below.