Wise’s trip to North America for the 2026 FIFA World Cup called for something more specific than standard corporate merchandise. The company wanted an item that would connect its distinctive visual identity with the football setting surrounding the trip.
For Wise, the international context was particularly relevant. The company’s products are built around moving and managing money across borders, while the 2026 FIFA World Cup brought teams and visitors together across Canada, Mexico and the United States. A bespoke football product gave the trip a clear visual link to the event without requiring a large or complicated merchandise collection.
The chosen item was a football scarf. The initial requirement was for only a handful of pieces, confirming that this was not a mass giveaway or general merchandise programme. It was a focused product created for one particular occasion, with the Wise brand team paying close attention to how the company’s identity would appear in knitted form.
Hercules Merchandise became involved once the product direction was clear. The final order consisted of ten UK-made HD football scarves, each measuring 140 by 18 centimetres and featuring a different treatment on the front and reverse.
Why branded football scarves suited the occasion
A football scarf has an immediate connection with the setting in which it is used. It does not need an accompanying explanation at a football event, and it looks natural in photographs, informal team moments and event environments.
This made branded football scarves a more relevant choice for Wise than a conventional promotional item. The scarf format provided enough space for the company’s name, flag symbol and green colour palette while still retaining the recognisable construction of football merchandise.
There was also no need to pretend that the scarves belonged to a football club. The strongest corporate football products often work because they borrow the format and visual language of supporter merchandise without copying a particular team. Wise’s identity remained central throughout the design.
For brands considering a similar project, the wider collection of custom football scarves offers several possible constructions. The appropriate choice depends on quantity, artwork, deadline and the amount of detail that needs to appear in the design.
Building Wise’s visual identity into a knitted product
Adapting a corporate identity to a scarf requires more than placing a logo in the middle of a rectangular template. A design that works perfectly on a screen may need adjustment when it is reproduced with individual knitted stitches and a restricted selection of yarn colours.
Wise’s creative and brand teams reviewed the concepts closely. Their comments concentrated on the central logo, the flag detail within the mark, the positioning of design lines and the use of the bright green flag symbol at the scarf ends. Green fringes were also an important part of the direction, with different shades considered before the final combination was chosen.
These details were not simply minor artwork corrections. They determined whether the scarf would look recognisably like a Wise product once it had been knitted.
The front and reverse also had to work together. An inverted treatment was used on the back, allowing the scarf to remain visually consistent when worn, held up or turned around. Double-sided design possibilities are one of the practical advantages of an HD knitted scarf, particularly when a brand has several visual elements to accommodate.
The finished product was based on the UK-made HD football scarf. This production route allows orders from ten pieces, making it suitable for compact brand activations, creative teams, special trips and small event groups that do not need hundreds of identical items.
A small order with full-size expectations
Small-quantity merchandise can be surprisingly difficult to source. Many fully customised knitted products are designed around larger production runs, leaving organisations with a choice between ordering more than they need or settling for a stock item with a printed or embroidered logo.
Wise initially considered approximately four or five scarves. The final quantity was ten, matching the minimum for the selected UK production option.
The low number did not reduce the importance of the design. In some respects, small event orders receive more individual scrutiny because every piece is likely to be handled, photographed or worn by someone directly involved in the project. There is little room for an anonymous surplus box of merchandise.
This is an important distinction for agencies and brand teams. Quantity should influence the production method, but it should not determine whether a product feels considered. A run of ten scarves can still use a fully knitted design, custom colours, fringes and different artwork on both sides.
For projects where a different material, finish or quantity would be more appropriate, the broader custom scarf range includes knitted, woven, printed and recycled options. Starting with the intended use usually makes product selection easier than beginning with a catalogue and trying to adapt an item afterwards.
What the response said about the finished scarves
The clearest test came when the scarves were delivered and opened by the Wise team.
“I just opened the scarves – and we LOVE them! Had so many compliments on them already – big hit here! Thank you!”
The compliments are a useful outcome because they came before any formal analysis of the project. People immediately recognised the scarves as something worth commenting on.
This is often the difference between merchandise that merely carries a logo and merchandise that has been designed for its setting. The Wise scarves connected a recognisable brand identity with a familiar football object. The concept was simple enough to understand immediately, but specific enough to avoid looking like an off-the-shelf promotional product.
The project also shows that corporate event merchandise does not always need a large range. One well-chosen item can be more coherent than several loosely connected products, particularly when the audience is small and the event has a strong visual context.
A focused product for a specific event
Wise’s branded football scarves were produced for a clearly defined moment: a North American trip connected to the World Cup. The small quantity, UK production, green fringes and carefully positioned brand elements all followed from that context.
The result was not designed as permanent fan merchandise or a mass corporate giveaway. It was a compact piece of event merchandise that translated Wise’s identity into a football format and received an immediate positive response from the people who saw it.
For organisations planning a similarly focused project, the useful starting point is not simply which products can carry a logo. It is which product already belongs in the environment being created. When the setting is football, branded football scarves often provide that connection naturally.
Organisations exploring a small or large custom scarf project can contact Hercules Merchandise to discuss the intended use, design requirements, quantity and available production routes.
Article written by Gilles
Founder of Hercules Merchandise, specialising in custom sports merchandise for clubs and organisations.
