The USL League One team coming to Portland, ME isn’t slated to take the field until 2025, but people are already wearing its merchandise. Many of these items were created by designer Hugh McCormick.

McCormick doesn’t have an extensive soccer background–though he did play the sport when he was young–but he’s grown to love the beautiful game.

An avid traveler, McCormick couldn’t help but notice that soccer has a strong presence in many foreign countries. He’s regularly witnessed a contagious passion for the sport in places where donning a team’s jersey is more about pride than fashion.

He’s seen similar fandom in Portland, as soccer supporters will arrive early to the Portland Zoo, a local soccer bar, to support their favorite English Premier League team. Those same people might suit up for a pick-up game at Kennedy Park later that day.

Seeing this, McCormick was overjoyed when USL to Portland Founder Gabe Hoffman-Johnson approached him about contributing to the creative side of New England’s newest soccer team.

“Gabe knew there was this underlying current of soccer fandom in Portland and he really wanted to tap into that,” McCormick told The Blazing Musket.

Gaining inspiration from the Oakland Roots, Saturdays Football, Only NY, and more, McCormick began to think about how to market a soccer club. He noticed that there’s often a heavy emphasis on being minimalist.

“A lot of these things are not supposed to be big and loud and out there screaming, ‘I’m a soccer person,’” McCormick explained. “They’re supposed to just seamlessly fit within a lifestyle–a soccer lifestyle–that someone’s already living.”

McCormick admits that being minimalist is a bit of a departure from his previous work. He noted that he generally likes to make it “as loud while as minimal as possible.”

That said, he understands that overdoing a design can be inauthentic. 

McCormick is currently in Colorado working as a real cowboy who trains horses and moves cows. When he gets dressed to do this hard work, he’s always thinking about functionality.

“I go out to dinner here and you see people in these lavish $10,000 cowboy outfits and I’m walking in there in my beat-up wranglers and my five-year-old boots and straw hat that I got from Boot Barn for $15,” McCormick said.

He added, “That’s something I’ve noticed, within the soccer graphic and apparel community, is people wearing very well-made clothing that is very minimal. It’s a big emphasis on how you can say the most while talking the quietest.”

The first capsule released by USL to Portland is a showcase of this mindset. One of the most popular items was a deep green sweatshirt that featured white letters on the chest that read “Forest City.” There was also a five-panel hat that simply said, “PRO Portland Original.” Of course, there was a soccer scarf. This one said, “Soccer City.”

A graduate of Maine College of Art and Design, McCormick spent ten years of his life in Portland. His soccer projects are inspired by the “particular truths about Portland and Portland soccer that don’t lie.” 

This can be seen in the stickers that were available at the event where it was announced that Portland was receiving a USL League One team. One sticker includes a pine tree, another uses the word “friggin’,” and another proclaims that this is the “way soccer should be.”

When talking about design, McCormick remembers when he was asked to create a graphic specifically for the Portland branch of Lululemon. He started the process by pitching anchors and lobsters, but these were deemed to be too obvious. Instead, Lululemon opted for a variation of the Dirigo Star.

This is the type of unique, genuine thinking that McCormick brings to designing items for the Portland USL team.

What it all comes down to is producing merchandise that resonates with the people of Portland and Maine as a whole. 

When asked about future products, McCormick noted that “there’s a lot of designs that have been already made and floated around and a lot of them are either getting altered or thrown into the trash.”

McCormick said that every product that gets released begins with extensive conversations with  Hoffman-Johnson. The goal is to produce something that is “here to stay.”

“We pull sweaters that are 60 years old, things that you would find in your grandfather’s closet, and go, ‘no way, check this out.’ That is what he’s trying to create,” McCormick said.

“It would be really easy for him to just blast out a ton of apparel, and I’m sure all of that would all sell, but I think he really wants to take the approach of being slow and steady and true so people can really believe in the stuff that we’re creating and let that translate into everything that we’re creating with the team.”

McCormick is just one of the people involved in designing items for the USL Portland team. Matthew Wolff will be tasked with creating the club’s crest while other artists will help with merchandise. While McCormick will produce more items in the future, the capsule that was just released doesn’t feature any of his work.

Creating merchandise that people will wear for years to come is daunting, but it’s also really exciting. 

It’s exciting because it gives McCormick a chance to dream. 

He explained that his Instagram DMs are full of ideas from Hoffman-Johnson. He’s not just getting ideas from soccer teams though, but also from past apparel companies that have made unique style choices that could be brought back.

“It’s more like, ‘Look at what this ski team did in the 50s in the Adirondacks in Lake Placid or something. We should bring something like that to this,” McCormick said. “We’re inspired more by the moment than by what a cool looking logo this is.”

While McCormick would love to see LLBean as the main sponsor of the USL team, he’d also welcome another local company that has followed a similar path. 

In the end, McCormick dreams of wearing apparel that’s authentic to Portland while enjoying local beverages and food at Fitzpatrick Stadium. Of course, he is surrounded by fans who are there to support their local soccer team.

McCormick and the rest of the USL to Portland team will lean on the inspiration of others in order to make this dream become a reality. They will also seek out opportunities to make the game-day experience distinctively Portland.

“If you’re not from Portland, ME and you come up to a USL game in Portland, I want you to be taken aback by the fact that it feels familiar because it’s soccer, but you have no idea what you’re walking into,” McCormick explains.

You can learn more about Hugh McCormick’s work by visiting his website or following him on Instagram. You can see and purchase the latest USL to Portland merchandise by going to their online store.