Washington Spirit’s Creative Director Domo Wells shares her approach to elevating the club’s fashionable offerings.
“A sports renaissance,” is how Domo Wells, the recently appointed creative director of the Washington Spirit, describes the accelerated growth of women’s soccer in 2024. A sublime summer of sport, piloted by the US Women’s National Team’s sensational victory at the Paris Olympics, has heralded a 45% increase in NWSL attendance. Now, more than ever is the time for clubs to do all they can to maintain this upward trajectory, and for Wells, this means spearheading a new approach to tangibly merchandising the Spirit.
Wells, a D.C. native now residing in Los Angeles, spent the last decade with her feet placed squarely in the music industry, calling Spotify her home for three years. While an interest in fashion was pre-established, “the sports aspect was actually a surprise,” Wells tells HALOSCOPE, sharing how she came to her new creative leadership role. It was in fact the Spirit themselves that propositioned Wells — who had not long before founded her creative agency, Dead Dirt. “They saw some spillover after my launch from some WNBA players who had worn some of my pieces,” she shares, adding that, “[Spirit] wanted to do a one off and I wasn't interested in that. I was like, ‘I think there's a lot more that could be done here if you guys are open to it.’ And they were.”
The result of this first-of-its-kind role for the club? A fall capsule merchandise collection and accompanying campaign marrying prime fashion editorial with the traditional sports aesthetic. “My intention was to elevate the merge in a way that hadn't been done yet,” said Wells of her choice to focus on garments not usually provided by the club, moving away from modest logo-ed baseball caps and minimalistic crew neck sweaters — which are, of course, still on offer in the club’s core collection. “It wasn't necessarily about completely flipping their merch upside down into something unrecognisable more than easing them into the elevation,” she explained, seeking inspiration from sporting merchandise of the ‘50s and ‘60s, like the much-beloved varsity jacket. “They’re meant to feel like pieces you would want to wear outside of being at the game or in the stadium,” Wells says of the capsule’s garments, adding that these are, “...pieces you would want to actually wear as part of your wardrobe because they're cool and not just throwaway merch for the season that you turn over whenever there's new stuff next season.”
At the heart of the campaign, aptly entitled “Renaissance Sports Women,” are the highly personable Spirit players for which the club’s supporters hold in the highest regard. Photographed in an ostentatious exterior, the French parterre and greenhouse of a historic D.C. home, the players don the collection confidently, their collective and individual strength on full display. “I think the best thing about working with athletes is how coachable they are, they really value instruction, especially if they're in a foreign environment,” Wells said of the shoot experience, noting that all players involved were “honestly amazing.” The creative director, who had not worked with the players in such a close capacity previously, has high praise for the athletes. “Courtney Brown was giving model. Aubrey [Kingsbury] came to slay. I was like, ‘Oh my God, girl, you might need to get into this for real.’”
Shot in the summer during the Olympic break, many of the Spirit’s brightest and most popular stars were unavailable to feature in the campaign as they were busy playing, and winning, in France. Nevertheless, Wells was “...super happy with who showed up because they came with all the positive energy of being willing and ready — and they had never done anything like this with the team for the team.”
The hope is that this capsule collection, and the many that will surely ensue, will aid in bringing together an authentic and diverse fan community to the Spirit. “This team and the league in general are doing a ton of work to appeal to diverse audiences and so they're on their way, but there is a ways to go,” shares Wells, adding, “You have to allow people to learn with you and earn their trust that you know what you're talking about. And I understand that process.”
Wells believes that her previous experience in the music industry, and not having worked within a sports team before, greatly aids her. “[Spirit] has enough sports experts. They need someone who understands what they are trying to achieve, but comes from a different place of expertise.” Naturally, this differing angle of interest shapes Wells’ wider wishes for the team. “It should be a no-brainer that there's a halftime show, it's a no-brainer that we have pregame performances and we have a playoff capsule and amazing new merch, and it's a no-brainer that we have all of these notable people at the game.”
As for the continued growth of the women’s professional soccer league, Wells wants to see “the NWSL operating very similarly to the WNBA, where people understand them in the same way and they value them in the same way,” adding that, “I think that this year really has been a historical marker for women's sports and the WNBA has really led that charge.”
As the Spirit surpasses their 2023 merchandise sales, it is clear that their ahead-of-the-pack attitude is beginning to pay off, ushering in a new fruitful era, both monetarily and culturally. “What I look forward to is seeing what things look like two to three years from now and what we've built on top of what they already have going. We just have to bring everybody to them,” says the hopeful creative director. 🌀
The collection is available in stadiums now and online on November 11th.
Molly Elizabeth is a freelance fashion writer and commentator based in London.