Outdoor branding program to highlight Maine-made gear

A person stands in a room with a display of products.

Photo / Courtesy of Maine Outdoor Brands Troy Curtis of Maine Sport Outfitters, headquartered in Rockport, put together a display of Maine-made gear using Maine Outdoor Brands assets.

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By Laurie Schreiber

Maine Outdoor Brands and Maine outdoor retailers have launched a branding program that looks to highlight Maine-made outdoor gear and apparel.

The statewide MOB Shop initiative aims to pull together displays of outdoor gear and apparel companies based in Maine, using assets that include a hierarchy of signage.

“For small brands like mine, visibility is everything,” said Flyn Costello, founder of Flyn, a Portland maker of wildlife-themed hats and apparel. “Because of this program, we’ve gained new retail partners and reached more customers than we could have on our own.”

The program builds on a 2022 pilot display at the Westbrook store of Sumner, Wash.-based outdoor apparel and gear consumer co-op Recreational Equipment Inc., or REI. In the pilot, one display generated $45,000 in sales of Maine-based gear brands and is now being replicated in selected REI locations around the country, according to a news release.

The pilot display used an existing REI table, draped with a MOB tablecloth, and showcased several Maine brands. The display was placed near the front of the store for maximum visibility.

In the statewide rollout, five retailers have set up MOB displays — REI in Westbrook and North Conway, N.H., Maine Sport Outfitters in Rockport and Rockland, and Nomads, an “adventure and active wear” retailer in Portland.

Their displays include brands such as Gorham-based Flowfold, which makes durable wallets, bags and backpacks from recycled sailcloth; Flyn; Good-to-Go, a Kittery maker of natural dehydrated meals for active people; Hyperlite Mountain Gear, a Biddeford maker of high-performance outdoor recreation products; Jetboil, maker of a backpack stove; Mainers, a maker of mitts and gloves in Trenton; Portland mapmaker Map Adventures, Sambob, a Portland maker of outdoor apparel; and Shaw & Tenney, an Orono maker of wooden oars and paddles.

'Everyone benefits'

“This program was born out of a simple idea — that if we make it easier for retailers to work with local outdoor brands, everyone benefits: businesses grow, consumers get better access to values-driven products and our local outdoor economy thrives,” said Marshall Merriam, a board member at Maine Outdoor Brands.

The red display assets include larger elements such as a poster on a stand and branded tablecloths, and smaller 8.5-inch by 11-inch and 5-inch by 7-inch signs. The smaller signs provide a brief story about each brand, including their Maine location and a sentence or two about the product. The signs are either affixed directly to the product or to the fixture where the product is housed.

Some stores, such as REI Westbrook and Maine Sport Outfitters, have grouped products together for impact while still using storytelling signs throughout the store wherever Maine brands are merchandised — for example on Old Town canoe and kayak racks.

REI North Conway and Nomads use the storytelling signs exclusively within the products' respective departments.

“Thanks to this program, we’ve been able to bring even more local brands into our stores, brands we may not have found otherwise,” said Troy Curtis, CEO and general manager of Maine Sport Outfitters.

More about the program

The program was supported by a domestic trade grant from the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.

The retailers currently enrolled in the program are in Portland, Westbrook, Rockport, Rockland and North Conway, NH. Maine Outdoor Brands said it’s in conversations with more retailers to include their stores this summer and fall. MOB said it’s also planning to launch an online storefront later this year.

Retailers maintain control over their buying decisions. However, Maine Outdoor Brands said it has facilitated conversations between Maine product brands and Maine retailers, leading to new business through the program.

Maine Outdoor Brands, led by Executive Director Jenny Kordick, has nearly 200 members. Approximately 70 make products; others are retailers, experience providers and additional Maine outdoor recreation economy stakeholders. There are additional outdoor brands in Maine.

Maine’s outdoor economy is worth $3.4 billion.