St Johnstone FC return to Scotland’s top flight deserves a proper congratulations. The Perth club sealed the William Hill Championship title with a 2-0 win away at Dunfermline Athletic, confirming promotion back to the Scottish Premiership and giving Saints supporters a season worth remembering.
For Hercules Merchandise, it also felt like the right moment to look back at a partnership that has grown alongside an important period for the club. We have been working with St Johnstone during a time when the club has been strengthening its retail operation and developing its shop offer.
Our work with the club has covered several areas of football club merchandise, including custom football scarves, beanies, snoods, mugs, pins, key rings, caps and seasonal product ideas. Across those projects, the aim has been simple: the products needed to feel like St Johnstone. The royal blue had to be right. The crest and badge colours had to be accurate. The items had to work for a real club shop serving real supporters.
St Johnstone’s promotion and a club moving forward
St Johnstone FC is one of those clubs where the local connection is difficult to separate from the football itself. The club presents itself around the idea of “One Club. One City. One Community”, which neatly captures how Saints sit in Perth. McDiarmid Park is not just a matchday venue. It is where the club shop, supporter experience and wider club identity all meet.
The 2025/26 title was a strong response to relegation the previous season. For clubs moving into a new division, retail often becomes part of the wider planning. Season tickets, kits, shop stock, supporter gifts, hospitality and matchday experience all need to reflect the momentum around the club.
Merchandise does not decide results on the pitch, but it does help carry the feeling of a season into everyday life for supporters. For St Johnstone, that made the timing of the partnership especially meaningful.
Football club merchandise built around a real retail operation
The relationship with St Johnstone began in a practical way. The club was taking its shop back under its own control and looking at wholesale partnerships to support that move. That gave the merchandise work a clear purpose from the beginning.
This was not about producing one random scarf or a quick promotional item. It was about helping the club build a shop-ready range that could sit naturally within its own retail environment.
In our experience producing sports merchandise for clubs and organisations, the best retail ranges usually combine familiar core products with a few more specific items. For St Johnstone, scarves quickly became an important part of that mix. They are visible, practical, strongly connected to football and easy for supporters to understand immediately.
For clubs planning a similar range, custom football scarves are often the natural anchor. From there, clubs can build into club headwear, accessories and seasonal items depending on timing, budget and supporter demand.
From bar scarves to tartan scarves
One of the most useful pieces of feedback from the St Johnstone work came after the first products had gone on sale. The club noted that the bar and tartan scarves seemed to be the most popular early items. That kind of comment matters because it comes from the shop floor, not just from a design review.
The bar scarf worked because it sat close to a traditional football scarf format. It was direct, recognisable and easy to wear. The tartan scarf added a more local feel, which made sense for a Scottish club with a strong regional identity.
For clubs and agencies, it is a good reminder that supporter merchandise does not always need to be overcomplicated. A strong scarf, a good beanie and a small set of well-made accessories can be more effective than a wide range without focus. The product has to match the club first.
Getting the royal blue and badge details right
Colour was a recurring theme across the St Johnstone projects. Different products handle colour differently. A knitted scarf, a cap, a snood and a printed mug will not reproduce the same shade in exactly the same way. Materials, yarns, fabric textures and print methods all influence the result.
For a club, the concern is much simpler: does it look like our blue?
With St Johnstone, royal blue was not just a design preference. It was part of making the merchandise feel right for Saints supporters. When one cap sample looked too grey, the discussion moved towards finding a material that would give a better blue result. When a scarf needed the royal blue fan colour, the artwork was adjusted before production.
The same thinking applied to badge accuracy. The club and its creative partners paid close attention to crest details, badge colours and how the products would look once produced. Supporters may not know the production method, but they recognise when a colour or badge feels wrong.
The same principle applies beyond scarves. Clubs planning a wider range should think carefully about how colours and crests translate across caps, beanies, custom pennants and accessories.
Planning supporter products around key retail moments
The St Johnstone projects were also tied to real club shop timing. Seasonal items were discussed, including Christmas socks and baubles, and there were conversations around whether certain products could arrive in time for Christmas sales.
Football merchandise works best when it is planned around the moments supporters are already paying attention. Promotion, a new season, Christmas, kit launches, cup runs, anniversaries and local events can all create strong buying windows.
For St Johnstone, promotion back to the Premiership creates a clear next chapter. Supporters will be looking ahead to new fixtures, bigger matchdays and a fresh season in the top flight. For the club shop, that makes the planning of scarves, headwear, gifts and smaller supporter items even more relevant.
Congratulations to St Johnstone FC
Everyone at Hercules Merchandise would like to congratulate St Johnstone FC on winning the Championship title and returning to the Scottish Premiership. It has been a pleasure to support the club’s retail team during a period of growth, change and renewed momentum.
The partnership has included traditional football scarves, tartan designs, beanies, caps, snoods, pins, key rings, mugs, seasonal ideas and scarf designs built around the club’s royal blue identity. Each product had its own role, but the direction stayed consistent: supporter merchandise that feels right for St Johnstone.
We look forward to seeing Saints back in Scotland’s top division. For clubs planning their own retail range, seasonal products or custom scarf designs, you can contact us here.
Article written by Gilles
Founder of Hercules Merchandise, specialising in custom sports merchandise for clubs and organisations.
