Quote Originally Posted by M. A. C. Newsome View Post
What you saw was a modern military box pleat, which is essentially a knife pleat with the end turned over. It uses the same amount of cloth as a standard modern kilt (about 8), with lots of little narrow pleats. One end of the "box" will be a very shallow pleat (about the depth of the pleat reveal), and the other will be very deep, like a knife pleat.

The box pleated kilts I make are modelled after the historic box pleated kilts c. 1790 to the mid-1800s, and require only about 4 yards of cloth. They are "true" box pleats in that the pleat depth is about 1/2 of the visible pleat reveal, and there is little to no overlap inside the pleat. These pleats are much wider. So, for instance, if your pleat is 3" wide, each side of the "box" will be pleated to a depth of 1.5".
Ah, thanks, Matthew! My guess is that the box-pleats you make are less annoying to press.