I wonder if this is true....After the proscription laws ended and the kilt was available again, techniques in fashionable construction had advanced greatly. I wonder if by that time, the idea of sewing a kilt in knife pleats would resemble the "old, simpleton" way of pleating the garment. With French couture at an appex at this time, and the broad need for massive kilt orders and wanting to look to date, I wonder if Box Pleating was just the style of the times moving aside anything resembling the unorganized hand pleat of the belted plaid. Sort of like jeans....In the 80's when acid wash straight leg were in vogue, my friends and I would NEVER think of, or be caught dead wearing bell bottoms or boot cut. Fast forward to the late 90's, early 2000's when this style came back with an updated flair. See my point? I'm hesistant to think it was purely economics, although the updated style of box pleating would have been conveniently cheaper.