Hattie Crowther Designed Custom Football Scarves for the Subway Women's League Cup Final
The limited-edition drop of 300 scarves takes a football classic beyond the stands.
Hattie Crowther is one of the biggest names in the football and fashion space. Known for her cleverly upcycled pieces, using old football jerseys, scarves and other memorabilia, her designs have quickly become the blueprint for sustainable style in sports.
Joining forces with Subway for the upcoming Women’s League Cup final between Manchester United and Chelsea, the designer created a limited-edition football scarf, celebrating the cup, its sponsor and the fashionable side of the beautiful game. The green and white scarves were designed with future styling opportunities in mind, made to live far longer than the 90 minutes of the match.
With only 300 scarves available for one of the biggest games of the season, it was a pretty major moment. We talked to Hattie Crowther about being up for the task, the process of creating the accessory and the inspiration behind the design.
Keep scrolling to read the full conversation.
What were the main inspirations behind this project?
I guess the starting point, of course, is the football scarf, which is quite a cultural object in itself. I would say it’s one of the most recognizable artifacts in sport as a whole, across many different sports overall. I was interested in taking that familiar form and shifting it slightly into a fashion space and context.
The aim was to create something that still speaks the language of football, but can exist beyond a single match. So I guess a piece that carries the colors of the game while also functioning as something people might genuinely want to wear day to day, holding longevity beyond, again, the final and the game itself.
Why football scarves specifically?
Scarves are deeply embedded in football culture. They represent identity, belonging and a collective experience in a way that very few other items of the match do, in my opinion. So, because of that, I felt like the right starting point was to rethink what a football match can be. Especially surrounding this match and sponsors such as Subway itself. Instead of designing something that’s tied to, again, a single fixture, tournament or club, the scarf becomes a platform for exploring how football culture can intersect now with fashion in a more lasting way.
What was the design process like?
It was about translating the visual language of Subway, as we know it, into the structure of a football scarf. Scarves have their own design logic — things like symmetry, typography and bold graphic layouts. It was about working within those conventions while introducing new elements through the lens of Subway graphics and art.
Personally, I enjoy working with a defined brief because it forces clarity, but the challenge becomes finding a point where different visual systems meet that can feel coherent. I think that’s been the beauty of this project — working within those parameters.
How much collaboration was there between you and Subway on the final design?
It was definitely a collaborative process. The brief gave me space to explore many ideas, but the final piece needed to sit naturally within Subway’s visual identity and the wider campaign. I did a multitude of designs, probably too many to be honest. So the design was developed through an ongoing dialogue back and forth, making sure that the final result felt authentic to football culture while also reflecting the partnership behind the project overall.
How do you see the scarves blending into fashion after the Cup Final?
I think one of the key decisions was not tying the scarf to the colors or identity of a specific club and keeping it Subway-coded, instead. That allows it to move beyond the event itself and exist as an object within everyday wardrobes. That was the key thing we locked in on. Football scarves already appear across a wide range of football contexts. But from streetwear and luxury styling, to design something with that flexibility in mind, it felt really important to us to have that incorporated in the design. It shifts the piece from being a souvenir to something with a longer cultural life.
Do you see yourself designing more limited products for tournaments and finals in the future?
Yes, I’d love to, but only if the project feels meaningful. I think it’s really important. Match merchandise carries a lot of emotional value for supporters, so it should never really feel disposable. I think if a collaboration genuinely celebrates the culture of the sport, the communities around it, or contributes something positive to the wider conversation, then those are the kind of projects I’m interested in tapping into, for sure.
What do you think the future of women’s football, fashion and sustainability looks like?
I think women’s football is still in a phase where many of the systems around it are being shaped. It creates an opportunity to think more carefully about the products designed in this space, produced and worn. I think there’s a lot of expansive behavior that we can play with in that area. In fashion, we are increasingly discussing longevity and responsibility within football, men’s and women’s.
Football culture already has a strong emotional attachment to objects like shirts and scarves, so there’s real potential to design merch that people can keep and value rather than just discarding it for a single event, which is something we see a lot of. If those ideas develop alongside the growth of the women’s game, it could lead to a much more thoughtful relationship between the three — sport, fashion and ethical practices.
