You were right about the Appearance issue. For some reason all of mine were set correctly, except the one for Texture J. That was the only one set under PMBJ instead of PFBJ for some reason. Thank you.
Edit: I'm thinking it might have been TSLRCM update that made the change since I've been having some issues with several things ever since the update.
Yes, you extract an item template and change some values and names so that it will become a new unique item. You won't destroy your game with experimenting with these files. I never tried it but I don't think using a K2 item file (.uti file) for K1 is a good plan, you might get away with it, don't know, it's mostly the 3D models that really need converting/porting.
Just in case, keep the zip file(s) to know which files to remove from your override folder. Looking at file dates also helps to identify groups of files, or that combined with file names. Worst case: remove all the files you recently added and/or modified. If the stuff below is a bit too much then I understand, if not.. here we go:
As said, swapping textures is easiest, but if you really want to add unique items then you start by extracting a robe template as your basis with KotOR Tool.
Kotor I -> BIFs -> templates.bif -> Blueprint, Item ->
g_a_jedirobe0X, g_a_kghtrobe0X, g_a_mstrrobe0X
Avoid using g_a_mstrrobe06 & g_a_mstrrobe07 as your basis, they use another model (Revan Armor/Star Forge Robes).
Extract to your override folder with a different name than the vanilla items, or do and rename after extraction. For example extract g_a_mstrrobe05 to g_a_mstrrobe99.uti. I like to use a more random number than the last vanilla one +1, because it's less likely that another mod uses it (you can also name it thisismyawesomerobe.uti or whatever).
The 3D model for these are all the same and if you've got JC's mod then it will be different than vanilla but still all (apprentice, jedi, knight, master) the same. They do have different stats, but if you make your own new item you can review all that, change stats, the description etc. Some of the stats trickle through from the base item, item properties can add to those.
With KotOR Tool you can tweak the .uti file before extracting or open it, make changes and save.
After opening the uti file I would make the Template ResRef and Tag values (General tab) the same as the file name (minus the .uti extension), this will also be what you use in your giveitem cheat code (again, you can use thisismyawesomerobe, just keep them all the same).
On to more important things, also in the general tab you have Texture variation, this will determine the filename of the texture and also the icon name. The icon name is a combination of the item's Base Item and the Texture variation value. The first part of the texture's filename comes from appearance.2da, but things are getting pretty lengthy already so I'll just tell you, it's PFBI (female) and FMBI (male), now you add the texture variation value in a 2 digit form. If you use texture variation 99 then your texture will have to be PFBI99.tga & PMBI99.tga, if you've used a master robe as a basis then the icon will be ia_mstrRobe_099.tga (3 digits here).