Stand on a corner of Green Street for five minutes and you’ll see an army of plaid scarves, plaid coats and plaid flannel shirts intersecting on their way to classes or coffee.

From the hangers of Target to Urban Outfitters to Marc Jacobs, plaid is clearly the pattern of the 2011 winter season. But it’s not just about style. Plaid’s historical relevance makes this trend just as much about the current economic situation in the U.S. as about fashion.

*Scotland, Seattle and Zuccotti Park*

Many of us associate plaid with kilt-donning Scotsmen frolicking with bagpipes. However, plaid (or “tartan” as many people outside of North America call it) was rocked by Scots at least a century before the modern wool kilt.

Professor Susan Becker, who teaches a fashion design course in FAA, says plaid showed up on the radar in the 16th century as an identifier of the dwellers of different regions of Scotland. By the 19th century, it was used to classify specific clans. This means that plaid flannel shirt you’re wearing might brand you as a descendent of a sheepherder.

“The pattern could have started with just one purple stripe for nobility,” Becker said, “and then more stripes were added as both clans and looms evolved.”

The idea of plaid as a class identifier moved from Scotland to other areas.

Even today, private school administrators continue to use the design in uniforms to set institutions apart. It was in the mid-1980s, however, that Seattle residents fortified the modern-day economic paradox that is plaid.

Struggling grunge musicians would hang out on the streets, spend $4 on a Value Village plaid flannel shirt and then wear it as protection from the rainy weather.

Becker, who has worked in the fashion industry in New York City, describes how plaid was suddenly representative of the rejection of materialism.

She has since described the pattern as a “high/low dichotomy,” as it’s worn to both boast wealth and protest economic inequality.

“It’s an interesting high/low moment right now in our nation,” she said, describing why she thinks plaid has made a comeback this year with shoppers of all income levels. “Never has the divide between rich and poor been so great here, and we had it right in our faces with the Occupy movement until it got power-washed out of Zuccotti Park.”

*The campus trend*

University visitors might think a Burberry boutique exploded due to all the plaid on campus. Even on a cool autumn day, students like Will Newton, junior in LAS, proudly wear their plaid flannel shirts in place of coats.

“Flannel shirts are deceptive,” said Newton while shivering and tugging closed the brown and white plaid flannel he threw on over a white tee. “They look warm, but they’re not.”

Newton wears similar shirts all the time, often going to class in the same one he slept and wrote poetry in the night before. The creative writing major believes they’re a step up from a t-shirt but not dressy enough to make him look like he’s going to the office.

Ariel Wilson and Chinonyelum Nwosu, seniors in LAS, adore plaid but feel it’s past the weather to not be wearing a coat. Their solution? Plaid outerwear.

Nwosu recently bought a plaid wool coat at Old Navy, and Wilson could be spotted across the Illini Union in her bright plaid vest.

“I chose this because it has a Christmas theme,” said Wilson, pointing at her thick red and black garb. “It would be on point if it had a hood.”

But amidst all the plaid lovers, there are a few haters.

Wilson and Nwosu’s friend Ashley Walker, sophomore in AHS, can’t stand plaid.

“All them colors together? It’s not my swag,” said Walker, shaking her head with disgust. “Too many colors together looks out of control; and then if you wear a basic, two-color plaid, you’re basic and don’t stand out.”

Walker loathes even seeing her boyfriend, Mayo Oyagbola, sophomore in LAS, wearing the pattern.

“I don’t wear plaid because she doesn’t like plaid,” said Oyagbola, only half jokingly.

*Plaid worth your buck*

When shopping for plaid, it’s important to keep in mind that not all are created equal. Much of the plaid-patterned clothing affordable to college students is made from or printed on cotton or poly-cotton flannel material.

Diane Murphy, store manager of Sew Sassy in Urbana, says there are certain things to check for before charging that plaid flannel shirt to your Visa.

“Good flannel is soft, thick and wonderful,” she said. “Bad flannel feels like thin cardboard and shrinks like the dickens when it’s washed.”

Murphy, who has a B.S. in consumer textiles from UC Davis, suggests holding a flannel item up to a store light. If you can see through it, put it back on the rack. The only reason you should even be able to see light through the material is if it’s a very pale color.

Another important thing to check is the thread count. If the tag doesn’t state it and the clerk doesn’t know it, Murphy recommends examining the weave closely. There shouldn’t be noticeable gaps between the threads. One last thing to inspect is if the plaid pattern matches up at the seams. Although it’s hard to pull off, Murphy says every line should connect thereby making the seams less noticeable.

Brian Wheeler, a traveling fabric sales representative for Moda Fabrics headquartered in Dallas, Texas, has stocked much of Sew Sassy’s four long aisles of fabric.

Wheeler says there are different price-points for plaid flannels. The cheapest plaids are those screen-printed on solid white or dyed flannel. With these plaids, you would see the solid fabric on the back when you flip over the plaid side.

The more expensive plaids are those woven from individually dyed threads. These are what people in the fabric and fashion businesses call “true plaids.” The plaid is visible and identical on the back.

“Plaid flannel is just like anything else,” Murphy said. “You get what you pay for.”