Since any attempt of mine to explain this before has never worked, I have a new way of explaining it.

This is the current system regarding the appearance of Epaulets:
CabalEpaulets_current.jpg

This is what I think the system should be:
CabalEpaulets_suggest.jpg

(Where a cell denotes that suit type/epaulet combination.)

In short, "so long as a player is wearing an epaulet of equal or greater level to the type of suit equipped, the form of the epaulet for that suit will appear". The idea is that no one uses appearance change for Aramid~ST because they won't equip EoX+3 ~ sEoX+5 and sacrifice stats for appearance. Personally, I have a love of Aramid and ST and would love to use appearance change to those items, but they're pointless without the epaulet. -_-'

And for the sneaky, you can wear your EoX+8, equip OSM, and no one will be the wiser as to what your epaulet actually is, only that it is "at least +6".

Pointless? Maybe, but we should give some purpose to the lower levels of equipment. -_-'