The woods and the water of Maine come together in the new primary jerseys for Portland Hearts of Pine, who will make their debut in USL League One in March 2025.
The jerseys were unveiled in front of 1,500 supporters, including Gov. Janet Mills, at a special event at the State Theater in Portland on the evening of Thursday, November 21.
Hearts of Pine executive creative director Burke Cherrie, who co-designed the kits with club founder Gabe Hoffman-Johnson, told SportsLogos.net in an interview just hours before the reveal that the club was aiming for a timeless design that people across Maine would be proud to wear.
“Mainers, in particular, like the old ways. There’s a convergence of the old ways and the new ways here,” Cherrie said. “We don’t discard the past. That’s something that really resonated throughout the branding process. In town halls with supporters and local government officials, talking with people who run businesses, there was a desire for this to be as Maine as possible. And history and heritage are a key part of that.”
The jersey features navy blue and forest green hoops all over the front, back and sleeves to represent the Atlantic Ocean and the woods that Mainers interact with every day, either for recreation or to earn a living. The sleeve cuffs and polo collar are navy blue with red trim inspired by the heart in the club’s crest. The club motto, “Lead With Your Heart,” and Dirigo heart logo — a mashup of their heart iconography and the “Dirigo star” from the Maine flag — appear on the back collar.
“We’ve been working on the [kit] design for really over a year. As we were developing the crest and everything else that went into the brand, the jersey design was front and center in that process,” Cherrie said.
“Gabe and I are lifelong soccer fans, and there’s a lot of nostalgia for ’90s soccer culture, from when we were growing up,” he added. “I have a lot of great memories of long-sleeved jerseys and big collars and cuffs. A soccer jersey is performance wear, but it’s also fashion in today’s world. To bring back some of those trends, we felt there was an opportunity to lean into that.”
The front-of-shirt sponsor is Visit Maine, the state’s tourism office, and their logo of the state’s name with a period appears in white. The sleeve sponsor is L.L.Bean, the outdoor clothing and equipment retailer based in Maine.
“I would argue we have the best front-of-shirt and sleeve sponsorship combo in American soccer, and probably the world,” Cherrie said. “I don’t think you can find a European club or a South American club that has a more unified club brand aligned with its sponsors’ brands. That’s a credit to the team that’s been working on sponsorships, the commercial side of things, to bring that to life.”
The kits are manufactured by Danish sportswear company Hummel, who also produce kits for Denmark’s national teams as well as German Bundesliga team Werder Bremen; Spanish La Liga clubs UD Las Palmas, Real Betis and RC Celta de Vigo; and French Ligue 1 side AS Saint-Étienne.
“It’s a small world, and I’m fortunate to have friends on the other side of the table,” said Cherrie, who has worked in sports media for more than a decade, collaborating with high-profile European clubs like Liverpool and Chelsea in the past. “I’m a huge soccer fan, and my dad was obsessed with the 1992 Danish national team that wore Hummel. The chevrons and the history that’s gone into that 100-year-old brand, that always felt like a really good fit for us. And they really align with the culture of Maine; it’s a brand that punches above its weight.”
Portland Hearts of Pine will kick off its 2025 USL League One season at Fitzpatrick Stadium, a 6,300-seat facility in Portland. The club launched its crest — also co-designed by Cherrie — in April 2024, which incorporates elements from the Maine seal and other state symbols. The heart in the crest is inspired by the Valentine’s Day Bandit, whose tradition of decorating storefronts and other structures in Portland with red hearts every February 14 has carried on beyond the original Bandit’s passing in 2023.
Though he grew up in Pennsylvania and went to college in New York City, Cherrie has called Maine home for the past six years. To spearhead the development of a brand for a local team and watch his designs become reality has a real thrill for him.
“To walk down the street and see a crest you helped create on someone’s hat at happy hour or whatever it is, it’s special to see that,” he said. “The way Portland and much of Maine has taken to the brand has been amazing.” He adds, though, that since the crest unveiling, Hearts of Pine has shipped merchandise to 45 different U.S. states and internationally. “Once you’re a Mainer, it sticks with you.”
The 2025 USL League One regular season will kick off in March. Hearts of Pine plans to reveal a second kit in February and a third kit a month or two into the season, depending on potential kit clashes with opponents. Cherrie was coy about the details of the second and third kits, but did say the team was “cooking up something pretty unique” for those.
“As excited as I am about this one, I think the second and third kits are going to strike a different chord with both fans of the club and people who collect jerseys,” he said.
The Woods and Water Kit is available in unisex short-sleeve, unisex long-sleeve, women’s and kids’ sizes through Hearts of Pine’s online store and at the club’s holiday pop-up shop in Portland.
