Bomb Story: It's odd in hindsight, but there was frantic speculation in 2012 that the world was slated to end on December 21. This was theorized on the fact that the Mayan Calendar, which spans 5,125 years starting in 3114 B.C., marked the end of a cycle on December 21, 2012. As far as we can tell, the physical earth remains, but it can also be argued that this was the beginning of the end (or end of the beginning) on a bunch of other fronts. | Background Story: Originating in Scotland as ""tartan,"" we now call this pattern of crisscrossed lines ""Plaid."" Growing up in Southern California during the '80s and '90s, plaid beach volleyball shorts were always in our purview, thanks to labels like Mossimo and Stüssy. When we elevated to making cut-n-sew apparel like button-ups in the early 2000s, plaids made their way into our language as a nod to both the surf culture of the West Coast and Polo's influence on the East. In fact, every plaid speaks to a different subculture. Buffalo plaids were woven into the early New York hip-hop lumberjacks. Shadow plaids on swap meet Pendletons. And The Hundreds plaids, for all.